Prime Minister Jeong: "We Can Become the 'First Mover' in the Hydrogen Sector... Introducing Mandatory Systems"

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is delivering a welcoming speech at the '2nd Hydrogen Economy Committee' held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 15th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on the 15th, "Since there is no clear leader yet in the hydrogen sector, we believe that we can also be a 'First Mover'."

At the 2nd Hydrogen Economy Committee held at the Seoul Government Complex that day, Prime Minister Chung stated, "The government will open the path to the hydrogen economy by uniting the public and private sectors with the Hydrogen Economy Committee as the focal point."

To this end, Prime Minister Chung expressed, "We plan to introduce a system that obligates the power market to purchase electricity produced by hydrogen fuel cells, aiming to achieve 8GW of fuel cells by 2040."

He added, "Once the system is introduced through future amendments to the Hydrogen Act, it will provide stable sales channels for fuel cell power generation operators, and we expect that new investments exceeding 25 trillion won will be activated over the next 20 years."

Prime Minister Chung also mentioned, "To support securing the economic feasibility of hydrogen for natural gas reforming, we will establish a new natural gas supply system for hydrogen production and reduce raw material costs. Korea Gas Corporation will be allowed to supply natural gas directly to large-scale hydrogen production facilities, and the installation of high-pressure supply pipelines will be permitted to support operating cost reductions."

Furthermore, he added, "We will introduce an individual tariff system for natural gas used in hydrogen production and consider exempting import charges for a certain period, so that the price of natural gas can be reduced by up to about 43% in the future."

The government plans to support a budget of about 800 billion won next year for hydrogen mobility, hydrogen supply infrastructure, core hydrogen technology development, and hydrogen pilot cities to accelerate the transition to a hydrogen economy. In addition, the real-time information system for hydrogen charging stations, which has been under construction since the 1st meeting, will be operated from next year, and events such as the Hydrogen (H2) Olympiad involving the entire nation and the Hydrogen Economy Leaders Forum will be held to spread the hydrogen economy boom.

Prime Minister Chung said, "Finally, we will actively begin building the four 'Hydrogen Pilot Cities' designated at the end of last year in Ulsan, Ansan, Jeonju-Wanju, and Samcheok, and to support this, we will enact the Hydrogen City Act. We will also ensure the smooth enactment of subordinate legislation for the enforcement of the Hydrogen Act in February next year, and maximize the ripple effects such as industrial promotion and job creation from the hydrogen economy through localization of core parts for hydrogen vehicles, charging stations, and fuel cells."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.