(Yicai Global) March 22 -- Mufan Power Technology, a Chinese hydrogen-fueled steam turbine startup, has scored CNY50 million (USD7.3 million) from a wind power unit of Envision Group in its second fundraising over the past year.

Envision Energy, a subsidiary of the Shanghai-based green energy giant, is the sole investor in this financing round, online tech news outlet 36Kr reported today.

Mufan will spend most of the proceeds of the financing on the research and development of products, expansion of the team, and business exploration, 36Kr reported, citing founder Lin Gang.

Founded in 2015, Shanghai-based Mufan makes steam turbines powered by hydrogen fuel, used in clean energy plants. In July, the company closed its pre-Series A funding round also worth CNY50 million. That round was led by Shenzhen-based venture capital firm Fortune Capital, and followed by Shunwei Capital.

Mufan has been in contact with multiple large power generation companies, Lin said. Its self-developed hydrogen steam turbines should be ready for use in power plants this year and in the future, the firm will develop more powerful products, the founder added. The startup has more than 70 employees and most of them are R&D staff, and the firm is still hiring, per Lin.

The advance of new energy industries around the world is driving the trend of making steam turbines use hydrogen instead of natural gas as a fuel source, Lin said, adding that the United States, members of the European Union, and Japan have developed such machinery for years, setting up industry standards, but China is still in the early stages of such transformation.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi