Ministry of Industry Invests 170 Billion KRW in Hydrogen Technology... Promotes High-Performance Hydrogen Facilities

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 6th that it will support a total of 171.8 billion KRW for national hydrogen industry research and development projects this year. By the end of the project in 2026, it plans to produce approximately 1,000 tons of clean hydrogen annually.

At the end of January, the Ministry selected a total of 22 new project institutions by announcing a plan for hydrogen R&D projects to expand the hydrogen ecosystem. A record-high total of 44.2 billion KRW will be supported for the new R&D projects.

In the hydrogen production sector, a large-scale demonstration project of 10 MW or more will be conducted to secure economically viable water electrolysis facility operation technology. The scale has been increased compared to previous demonstration projects conducted in Jeju and Naju. The goal is to accumulate optimal operating conditions for large-scale water electrolysis systems, green hydrogen production data, economic data, and to improve technology through comparative evaluation between domestic and international water electrolysis facilities of each type.

This project will establish a 12.5 MW water electrolysis facility within a 30 MW wind power complex located in Gujwa-eup, Jeju, producing green hydrogen based on electricity generated from the wind power complex. If this project is successfully carried out, by 2026, when the project ends, approximately 1,000 tons of clean hydrogen will be produced annually. Accordingly, it will be utilized in various fields such as about 300 hydrogen clean vehicles and hydrogen turbine co-firing power generation within Jeju Island.

In the hydrogen transportation and storage sector, technology development will be promoted for liquefied hydrogen storage technology that can reduce volume by about 1/800 compared to gaseous hydrogen, as well as cost reduction and high performance of hydrogen facility components such as hydrogen tanks and compressors. Currently, all available liquefied hydrogen trailers are foreign-made products. If a 3-ton liquefied hydrogen trailer is developed with domestic technology through this project, it is expected to be used around 2025 to transport liquefied hydrogen from domestic liquefied hydrogen plants. Technology development aiming to reduce the cost of hydrogen storage containers for commercial vehicles by more than 30% will be supported, contributing to the expansion of hydrogen mobility by reducing the price of hydrogen commercial vehicles based on this.

In the hydrogen utilization sector, efforts will be made to convert existing fossil fuel-based mobility to hydrogen mobility, develop core technologies for ammonia-injected fuel cells, and improve fuel cell reliability. Currently, a demonstration of operating about 100 hydrogen forklifts is underway at sites where forklifts are heavily used, such as the steel industry and large-scale logistics warehouses, to secure operation data and establish certification standards, thereby laying the foundation to promote the conversion of industrial machinery to hydrogen mobility.

In the hydrogen safety sector, as overseas liquefied hydrogen production facilities are introduced domestically, technology development will be conducted to verify the performance of core components and facilities and evaluate safety to establish Korean-style liquefied hydrogen safety standards. Through this, performance verification and demonstration test experience of liquefied hydrogen core components and facilities will be accumulated, and safety standards suitable for cryogenic environments will be institutionalized.

Yang Byung-nae, Director of Hydrogen Economy Policy, said, "Under the recent trend of high oil prices, the transition to a hydrogen economy that can simultaneously solve high oil prices and carbon neutrality is an unstoppable trend," adding, "We will strengthen support to secure technological capabilities across the entire hydrogen economy cycle, including green hydrogen production and expansion of hydrogen mobility."

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