The new energy industry serves as a key driver for green growth, and unlocking its core competitiveness is essential for achieving sustainable development. This study focuses on the new energy industry in Shandong province from 2010 to 2021, constructing an evaluation system for core competitiveness across three dimensions: industrial competitive environment, industrial competitive strength, and industrial competitive potential. Utilizing the entropy weight TOPSIS method and the obstacle degree model, this paper delves into the evolving characteristics and hindering factors affecting the core competitiveness of the new energy industry in Shandong province. The findings reveal the following: (1) over the study period, the core competitiveness of the new energy industry in Shandong province underwent stages of small fluctuations, slow growth, and rapid expansion, indicating an overall upward trajectory. (2) The primary obstacle to improving core competitiveness lies in the industrial competitive environment, particularly highlighted by factors such as the number of industrial service departments, existing policies, the growth rate of investment in the new energy industry, and the number of research and development personnel in large-scale new energy enterprises.