BRUSSELS, July 1 (Reuters) - European manufacturers of

hydrogen equipment have urged the European Union to step in to

help the industry compete with cheaper Chinese producers, in a

letter seen by Reuters on Monday.

The companies, among them Thyssenkrupp Nucera,

Siemens Energy, and Nel Hydrogen, want

Brussels to do more to ensure Europe-made equipment powers the

EU's plan by 2030 to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable

hydrogen using electrolysers, machines that use electricity to

split water to produce the green fuel.

China is rapidly expanding its production of hydrogen

equipment and is now home to 40% of the world's electrolyser

manufacturing capacity, up from 10% last year, the letter said,

adding that state subsidies were giving Chinese firms an edge.

"This skewed playing-field creates unfair competition and

puts European electrolyser manufacturers at a significant

disadvantage," said the letter to European Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen.

"Once a technology or its supply chain is lost, it is

impossible to bring it back," said the letter, which was dated

on Monday and first reported by the Financial Times.

Siemens Energy declined to comment beyond the contents of

the letter.

The European firms asked Brussels to introduce "resilience

criteria" that would favour local firms in upcoming auctions

from the bloc's Hydrogen Bank funding scheme, and ensure certain

parts of the production process are located in Europe.

The EU hydrogen bank awarded 720 million euros to seven EU

projects in April. Industry sources have said the low-priced

bids from some successful projects indicated that they would be

using cheaper Chinese equipment.

The EU is toughening its stance against China on green

technologies, to attempt to ensure European industries can

compete globally and avoid deepening Europe's reliance on

Beijing for key building blocks of the clean energy transition.

Brussels last month announced tariffs on imported Chinese

electric cars, and is investigating Chinese subsidies for wind

and solar suppliers.