Busan Celebrates Opening of New Fuel Cell Power Plant

An employee at Busan Green Energy said that “[the facility] is the biggest fuel cell power plant constructed within a city nationwide”. (Image: Busan Green Company)

The facility was built into a local power station in the area of Busan near Haeundae Beach called “Hauendae Shin Dosi” (Haeundae New City), also referred to as Jwa-dong.

The four entities that make up Busan Green Energy have contributed different resources to the facility: Busan contributed land, the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company contributed renewable energy certificates (certificates that prove 1 Megawatt-hour of energy was produced by renewable energy sources and routed into the electric grid), Busan City Gas contributed a supply of natural gas, and Samsung C&T contributed to the planning and construction.

The new fuel cell power plant will produce energy by taking the hydrogen and oxygen in compound methane, a central component of natural gas, and causing a chemical reaction to generate electricity.

Completed on June 20, 180.8 billion won was invested in the construction of the two-story steel-frame structure built on 3,279 square meters.

The new fuel cell power plant will produce energy by taking the hydrogen and oxygen in compound methane, a central component of natural gas, and causing a chemical reaction to generate electricity. (Image: Busan Green Energy)

The facility will generate 250,000 MWh of energy and 240,000 Gigacalories (Gcal) of heating per year.

An employee at Busan Green Energy said that “[the facility] is the biggest fuel cell power plant constructed within a city nationwide”.

“Civilian complaints about odor, smoke, and particulate matter are non-existent because from the outside, the only thing visible is steam. The steam is a byproduct of the heat that is produced from using electrochemicals to generate energy from renewable energy sources,” the employee added.

“The local power station used to have two garbage incinerators and four boilers to generate and supply heat. However, the station has been operating in the red ever since 2013, due to the decommissioning of one of the aging incinerators coupled with increasing costs of producing energy. As fuel cell generators are 48 percent cheaper to operate than traditional boilers, we expect them to have a positive impact on the station’s bottom line,” the employee concluded. 

Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)