At an altitude of 4,500 meters and -25℃, the capacity of lithium batteries drops sharply by 60%, yet a 9-kilogram power generation device can support continuous operation for 12 hours: Anhengran adopts micro gas turbines to take the "third path" in the mobile power supply track.

At a material transfer station 4,500 meters above sea level in Nagqu, Xizang, the lithium battery of one rescue team saw a sudden 60% capacity drop at -25℃, while another team 3 kilometers away used a 9-kilogram power generation device to supply power continuously for 12 hours.

Behind this scenario lies a 20-plus-year bottleneck in the industrial portable power station sector. Today, a group of talents from Beihang University is trying to break this deadlock with a long-overlooked technical route.

I. Batteries and Piston Generators: Both Trapped in the Same "Impossible Triangle"

Portable power stations are used in all corners of production and daily life. Currently, for industrial portable power stations in the 1kW-1000kW power range, there are basically only two options: batteries, or piston generators paired with fuel.

Both routes point to the same core pain point — low energy density.

For the battery route, even with tens of billions or hundreds of billions of R&D investment, it is very difficult for the energy density of battery cells to exceed 1000Wh/kg within 5-10 years (excluding laboratory products). This applies almost equally to lithium batteries, sodium batteries and solid-state batteries. The sharp capacity drop of batteries at the extreme low temperature of -40℃ and the efficiency attenuation at 4000-meter plateaus are even more common challenges across the industry.

For the piston generator route, after 160 years of development, its technical route is so mature that it is extremely difficult to achieve leapfrog breakthroughs, and it is severely constrained by the "impossible triangle" composed of high power density, long service life and low cost: lightweight models are not durable, durable models come with exorbitant costs, and low-cost models cannot achieve high power density. Its overall performance in many application scenarios is even worse than that of batteries, and it is being gradually replaced by batteries.

As a type of industrial infrastructure, high power density portable power stations with commercial value have become one of the focuses of global technological competition.

II. The Third Route of Micro Gas Turbines

Anheng Turbines (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2017, focusing on the R&D of micro gas turbine generators below 500kW. The core members of its team come from the research group of Academician Chen Maozhang of Beihang University. The aerodynamic design software system for turbomachinery it relies on has been independently developed and iterated for more than 30 years by the research group, marking a key leap from academic research to industrialization.

Built on this system, Anheng Turbines has developed three differentiated technical routes:

First, the technology of micro high-efficiency radial turbomachinery. Compared with compressors and turbines of the same magnitude at home and abroad, the polytropic efficiency of Anheng Turbines' radial compressor is increased by 6 percentage points, and the turbine efficiency is increased by 7 percentage points, with both core components reaching the world's leading level.

Second, the ultra-lightweight, compact and high-efficiency primary surface recuperator. As the "core component" of micro gas turbines, the recuperator is used to recover exhaust waste heat and improve the overall efficiency. Traditional solutions are heavy and bulky. The experimental prototype of the self-developed primary surface recuperator from Anheng Turbines achieves a power-to-weight ratio of 16 kW/kg, which is at the world's leading level.

Third, the micro high-efficiency multi-fuel adaptable combustor. It can use 5 types of fuel including aviation kerosene, diesel, natural gas, methanol and hydrogen, with a combustion efficiency of over 99%. Its wide-condition stability and multi-fuel online switching capability open up huge space for downstream applications — especially in the transition period when new energy infrastructure such as hydrogen and methanol is not yet fully deployed, one single set of equipment can adapt to multiple fuels.

Up to now, Anheng Turbines has formed a product matrix of 7 models with 3kW, 6kW, 15kW, 20kW, 75kW, 150kW and 350kW, weighing from 3kg to 150kg, all of which can operate stably in extreme low temperature of -40℃ and plateau environment at 4000 meters. For reference, mainstream similar international products are still mainly fixed models: the Capstone C65 system weighs about 758kg, and Bladon MTG12 is a 12kW class product. For mobile scenarios in the full power range of 3-350kW, publicly comparable products of the same magnitude are still unavailable on the market.

Key Parameters of Anheng Turbines Products

III. Low-altitude Economy + Emergency Disaster Relief: Two Priority Scenarios

In terms of commercial implementation, Anheng Turbines chooses to first enter two scenarios with the highest value density.

The first is the low-altitude economy.

The hybrid power system of industrial-grade UAVs is one of the most compatible scenarios for micro gas turbines. Taking the 20kW unit as an example, the whole unit weighs only 15kg. After being installed on a UAV, it can extend the battery life from about 30 minutes of the current pure battery solution to more than 4 hours. For industrial-grade UAVs that perform long-time off-grid operations in the wild, the overall life-cycle comprehensive cost is more than 30% lower than that of the pure battery system.

One industry fact is that the ratio of electricity price to oil price in most overseas regions is much higher than that in China. This means that the cost advantage of the micro gas turbine system will be further amplified in overseas markets.

The second is emergency disaster relief.

At the scene of a sudden disaster, the "last mile" of material transportation requires manual portage, and power supply is a necessity for disaster relief. Anheng Turbines provides a simple calculation:

Assume that each disaster relief team member carries a load of 20kg. If batteries are used as the power carrier, 20kg corresponds to about 3.5kWh of electricity (calculated based on 175Wh/kg of mass-produced lithium batteries); if the 6kW micro gas generator + diesel from Anheng Turbines is used as the power carrier, 20kg corresponds to about 15-20kWh of electricity — the transportation efficiency is more than 4 times higher than that of batteries. In contrast, a traditional 6kW piston generator weighs at least 50kg, which cannot be used in this scenario.

With the added advantages of stable operation at the extreme low temperature of -40℃ and natural adaptability to 4000-meter plateaus, micro gas turbines have structural advantages in special scenarios such as the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and western border areas.

In addition to these two priority scenarios, Anheng Turbines is also targeting high-value niche markets such as offshore wind power operation and maintenance, ship hybrid power, backup power for communication base stations, aircraft ground power units (GPU), backup power for new energy vehicles, construction in remote areas and residential backup power.

IV. Team and Progress

Anheng Turbines has Academician Chen Maozhang of the Chinese Academy of Engineering as its chairman and chief consultant, and its core team mainly comes from Beihang University and Harbin Institute of Technology.

As of press time, the progress of Anheng Turbines' series of products is as follows:

The 6kW product has a maturity close to TRL6, and is expected to achieve mass production in 2026;

The 75kW product will deliver the prototype by the end of this year, and is expected to complete engineering development by the end of 2027;

The other 5 products have all completed detailed design, and are entering the R&D and testing phase as planned.

In terms of business model, Anheng Turbines focuses on independent commercial operation, and opens up joint R&D channels for specific strategic customers at the same time, welcoming industrial customers to carry out prototype verification around specific application scenarios.

In terms of financing, the company is launching its first round of market-oriented financing, and the funds will be mainly used for the construction of mass production lines for 6kW and 75kW products, extreme environment field test and verification, as well as the engineering development of subsequent models.

Conclusion

The industrial portable power station is an infrastructure market that people "cannot live without even if they barely notice it". According to data from Global Market Insights, the global micro gas turbine market size was about 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, and will reach 10.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2035, with a CAGR of 11.9% — among which the 3-350kW mobile and portable sub-track is currently in a gap period of "existing demand but no mature products".

Whether the technical route that Anheng Turbines has bet on for 8 years can complete the leap from "technical breakthrough" to "commercial verification" in this gap period will be one of the most noteworthy industrial propositions in the next two years.