"Green Hydrogen-Grown Tangerines Also Available"... Jeju Governor Oh Young-hoon, "Expanding Hydrogen Buses to 300 Units"

'2024 Green Hydrogen Global Forum' Press Conference

Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Governor Oh Young-hoon (right in the photo) and Kim Sang-hyeop, Co-Chairman of the Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, are answering questions at a press conference held on the afternoon of the 18th at the Jeju International Convention Center. Photo by Jeju Special Self-Governing Province

"Green hydrogen is an alternative that can solve issues such as intermittency and output control of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power. We plan to expand the number of hydrogen buses to 300 and hydrogen cleaning vehicles to 200, and we are also considering the introduction of hydrogen trams."

Oh Young-hoon, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, made these remarks during a press conference held on the afternoon of the 18th at the Jeju International Convention Center, where the '2024 Green Hydrogen Global Forum' is taking place. Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced by electrolyzing water using electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

Jeju Province has abundant renewable energy resources like solar and wind power, but it cannot transmit electricity back to the mainland, resulting in frequent output control and high dissatisfaction among power producers.

The renewable energy generation ratio in Jeju Province averages 19.6%, more than twice the national average of 9.1%. On the day of the press conference, as of 12 noon, the utilization rate of renewable energy reached 60%, and output control was being implemented. During output control, facilities must be idled, causing losses for power producers.

Jeju Province is addressing this issue by producing green hydrogen using surplus renewable energy. Governor Oh stated, "There were many complaints from power producers as solar power plants could not operate despite strong sunlight, and wind turbines could not run on windy days. Green hydrogen can solve the intermittency and output control problems of renewable energy."

Since August last year, Jeju has been operating a 3.3-megawatt (MW) green hydrogen production facility in the Haengwon-ri area, capable of producing up to 1.2 tons of hydrogen per day. Jeju plans to build additional green hydrogen production facilities of 12.5MW and 30MW capacity in the Bukchon-ri area.

Jeju Province plans to expand hydrogen refueling stations and transportation means to utilize the hydrogen produced, thereby activating the hydrogen ecosystem. Governor Oh said, "We plan to expand hydrogen buses to 300 units by 2030 and increase hydrogen cleaning vehicles to 200 units after introducing one this year." He also added, "We are preparing to introduce hydrogen trams to alleviate traffic congestion in Jeju City."

Jeju is continuing various attempts to use green hydrogen across society. The Green Energy City being developed in the Hwagok 2 district plans to supply green hydrogen as the energy source for 2,500 apartment households. Governor Oh explained, "Vinyl greenhouses in the citrus farms, which account for more than 10% of Jeju's GDP, currently use electricity or fossil fuels, but we plan to switch to green hydrogen or renewable energy in the future." He expressed hope that "'RE (Renewable Energy) 100 Citrus' and 'RE100 Eggs' could also be produced."

Jeju Province aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 using green hydrogen and renewable energy. This is 15 years ahead of the government's target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Jeju's efforts are attracting attention as leading examples both domestically and internationally. Kim Sang-hyup, Co-chairman of the Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, said at the press conference, "The energy world changes occurring in Jeju Province are showing the future of South Korea," adding, "Hydrogen will establish itself as one of the three major energy sources alongside renewable energy and nuclear power."

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