Hyundai Motor Co.’s hydrogen charging station at a highway rest stop in Anseong, 77 km south of Seoul. (image: Hyundai Motor)
ULSAN, Aug. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — The city of Ulsan plans to build South Korea’s first pipeline system to supply hydrogen.
The city signed an agreement with six agencies and businesses including the Korea Gas Safety Corp. (KGS) on Tuesday to build pipelines between hydrogen filling stations and hydrogen supplier Deokyang Co., and establish a safety management system.
Deokyang will be in charge of installing and managing the pipelines, as well as providing a stable supply of hydrogen. The city of Ulsan and KGS will take care of related administrative work.
Other participating businesses will deal with creating and supporting a real-time safety management system, and operating hydrogen filling stations.
The new hydrogen pipeline will become South Korea’s first, and the world’s third pipeline system after Japan and the United States.
Until now, tanker trucks were being used to deliver hydrogen to filling stations
The pipeline will be connected to the sixth hydrogen filling station in Ulsan, which will open by the end of this year. The new station will be able to process 55 kilogram of hydrogen per hour.
Once the pipeline is connected, the station will be capable of filling more than 130 vehicles per day.
Considering that other stations can fill more or less 50 vehicles each day, this comes as a major boost to better accommodate the rising demand for hydrogen.
Ulsan plans to set up seven filling stations by the end of the year, and add five more by 2022.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
