Chungnam Begins Demonstration of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Generation System

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is launching a demonstration project for home and building hydrogen fuel cell power generation systems. This project is considered the first task of the hydrogen energy transition regulatory free zone (hereafter Hydrogen Special Zone) that Chungnam will promote in the future.

According to the province on the 21st, the Hydrogen Special Zone is designated and operated until July 2024 with the goal of "promoting a hydrogen economy society through demonstration and commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell power generation, charging, and mobility."

Chungnam has received six demonstration exemptions for three total tasks and has completed preparations such as building demonstration sites and test operations since last year. Starting this year, demonstrations for each project will be conducted sequentially.

The first task is the demonstration of home and building hydrogen fuel cell power generation systems. This task focuses on solving practical problems such as the rapid increase in electricity demand due to increased energy consumption in homes and buildings and the need to introduce eco-friendly distributed energy systems due to mandatory installation of renewable energy.

First, the province has designated three exemption sectors?high-temperature fuel cell combined exhaust, grid-switching fuel cell systems, and direct hydrogen fuel cell systems?as hydrogen fuel cell power generation system projects for demonstration.

Through the demonstration, the province plans to establish combined exhaust installation standards that allow the combined exhaust system, currently possible only for low-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) under existing safety standards, to be applied to fuel cells such as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).

Additionally, the province will establish regulations for grid-switching fuel cells to maximize the utilization of fuel cell systems, which until now only allowed grid-connected and standalone types, causing operation to stop during power outages, reducing energy efficiency and making uninterruptible systems impossible.

The demonstration of direct hydrogen fuel cell systems focuses on responding to the transition to a hydrogen society by adding manufacturing, facility, technology, and safety standards for direct hydrogen supply type fuel cell power generation systems to existing regulations that only required statutory inspections for city gas and liquefied petroleum gas reforming fuel cells.

The province expects that by completing the demonstration by November this year and legalizing related standards, the efficiency of fuel cell installation and maximization of utilization will improve, accelerating the spread of fuel cell power generation systems.

Separately from the hydrogen fuel cell power generation system demonstration, the province plans to start projects such as hydrogen charging system demonstration and long-distance flight demonstration of hydrogen drones within this year to lead the transition to a hydrogen economy society.

A provincial official said, "Chungnam has a very advantageous strength in building a hydrogen ecosystem by possessing the three major elements of the hydrogen industry: 'production-storage-supply.' The province will legalize necessary standards to ensure the successful completion of each demonstration project and lead cost reduction and efficiency improvement through new energy systems."

Meanwhile, five special zone operators?Micopower, H&Power, Beomhan Fuel Cell, SPG Hydrogen, and the Advanced Technology Research Institute?are participating in the hydrogen fuel cell power generation system demonstration. These operators will set quantitative target items for each system during the demonstration period to evaluate safety and other factors and go through a process to derive optimized systems.

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