South Korea expands on its hydrogen strategy across the country

28 Dec, 2021

South Korea is moving forward with its strategy to boost their hydrogen fuel plans across the country. Recently, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy celebrated the launch of Korean Southern Power’s Shinhincheon Bitdream Centre, currently the largest hydrogen fuel cell power plant in the world. 

In a joint-venture alongside local companies POSCO Energy and Doosan Fuel Cell, the project culminated in a plant capable of supplying electricity that can be used by 250.000 households annually. In fact, the latter company announced last September that it was the first Korean company to export hydrogen fuel cells, expanding its operations across Asia, another big step for the country in this regard.

With a capacity of 78.96 kWh, this reflects an over 340 billion won investment from all parties involved. According to the media, this was the main goal of a four phased project that started back in 2017.

In other news, South Korea’s army also announced the opening of its first hydrogen charging station. It’s open for use by civilians, who can access it at the Daejeon military base, located 164 kilometers south of Seoul. It’s capable of powering 60 sedans and 12 buses a day, reported the Korea Herald.

The media also pointed out that this is just one step of the military’s plan to open more hydrogen charging stations in the future. It has already proposed around 50 additional sites to the Ministry of Environment. It also has plans to expand its hydrogen cars to reach 105 units between 2022 and 2026, according to an official statement for the site.

These two developments are part of the Korean government plan to help the hydrogen economy grow in order to meet carbon neutrality by 2050. According to state numbers, there are currently 117 hydrogen stations active across the nation and there are projects to raise them up to 1,200 by 2040.

Source: Petrol Plaza

Photo: Doosan Fuel Cell

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