SK Ecoplant Signs MOU with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and Bloom Energy for Domestic Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Development

Park Kyung-il, CEO of SK Ecoplant (third from the left), Sherlyn Moore, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Bloom Energy (first from the left), Jung Jae-hoon, President of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (second from the left), and Randy Afuz Bloom, President of SK Fuel Cell (fourth from the left) are posing for a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] SK Ecoplant announced on the 13th that it has signed a four-party memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in the localization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Bloom Energy, and Bloom SK Fuel Cell.

Attending the signing ceremony were Park Kyung-il, CEO of SK Ecoplant; Jung Jae-hoon, President of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power; Sherlyn Moore, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Bloom Energy; and Randy Afuza, President of Bloom SK Fuel Cell.

This agreement focuses on adding the core components of cells and stacks, which are power generation devices of SOFC, to the list of items to be localized and produced domestically.

Through this agreement, the four companies plan to select and nurture domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote eco-friendly SOFC localization. The selected companies will localize core components and supply them to Bloom SK Fuel Cell located in Gumi, Gyeongbuk. These core components will be directly installed in Bloom Energy's SOFC systems and exported worldwide.

Additionally, SK Ecoplant will provide cooperative support across the entire fuel cell business, while Bloom Energy and Bloom SK Fuel Cell will respectively support technology and industry-academia cooperation for domestic fuel cell parts suppliers. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power will promote SMEs' technology development and competitiveness through cooperative projects for SME technology development.

Park Kyung-il, CEO of SK Ecoplant, said, "Through this agreement, the four companies will actively cooperate to further accelerate SOFC localization and contribute to achieving the Green New Deal and carbon neutrality. We consider this very meaningful as SOFC localization will enhance the capabilities of the materials, parts, and equipment industry, foster the domestic fuel cell ecosystem, and further enable mutual growth with domestic parts manufacturers."

Meanwhile, SK Ecoplant established the joint venture Bloom SK Fuel Cell with Bloom Energy in January last year to localize SOFC. In October last year, the Bloom SK Fuel Cell manufacturing plant located in Gumi, Gyeongbuk, was completed, and eco-friendly SOFC production has been in full swing. The production scale started at 50MW per year in 2021 and plans to gradually expand to 400MW by 2027.

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