There are three major applications (portable, stationary, transportation) of hydrogen energy (HE), and each application play a unique and important role in the sustainable development of energy system. In different regions within a country, different applications of HE are preferred. This paper therefore explores the process to decide the optimal region to develop each of the three subtypes of HE applications. To this end, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and a fuzzy Technique the Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method are used in the present study. Based on a literature review and in-depth interviews with officers, experts, the managers of HE -related enterprises, and consumers, the present study comes up with two selection criteria, namely, the acceptance on the applications of hydrogen energy (i.e., market entry barriers and customer's acceptance), and the integrity of hydrogen energy industrial chain on three applications (i.e., production stage, distribution stage, and marketing stage). This paper uses a case study to explore the functioning of three applications of hydrogen energy in the industrial, cultural and restricted residence regions. Four main findings emerges from this study: (1) the market structure of the portable, stationary and transportation application of HE should be pure competitive, oligopolistic, and monopolistic competition respectively; (2) the customer's acceptance for different applications is different, due to different neighborhood concerns about the quality of life; (3) the cost and benefit of different applications depend on different factors, including government policy, technological improvements and social preferences; (4) in order to promote all HE applications, the process to decide the optimal region to develop a specific HE application depends on the comparative advantages of the application. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.