A hydrogen fuel cell power plant in Dongtan, south of Seoul. (image: Korea Energy Agency)
SEOUL, June 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has announced its intention to import green hydrogen from abroad within the next 10 years.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Tuesday with about 30 companies and organizations to establish a supply network for green hydrogen imported from abroad.
Among the entities which participated in the MOU were five state-run companies, including the Korea Gas Corp. and the Korea Electric Power Corp., and six government-affiliated research institutes, including the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning.
The ministry formulated a roadmap for the invigoration of the hydrogen economy, as well as detailed action plans for six areas last year.
Under this roadmap, thus far, the ministry has placed focus on increasing the number of hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen charging stations.
The government and private sector now share the view that it’s time to increase the supply of high quality hydrogen.
The ministry expects the annual hydrogen demand for transport such as hydrogen electric cars to rise from 4,000 tons this year to 370,000 tons in 2030.
The supply of hydrogen will become a more significant issue along with the increase in the use of hydrogen by the steel and chemical industries.
Most of the hydrogen available today in South Korea is hydrogen gained as a by-product of petrochemical processes, as well as that extracted from liquefied natural gases (LNG).
The by-product hydrogen is limited in supply and the extracted hydrogen emits greenhouse gases when it is extracted from LNG.
To address these problems, the ministry plans to import green hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water from abroad within the next 10 years.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
