HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Acquires Finnish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Company for 107 Billion KRW

HD Hydrogen Acquires Convion for 72 Million Euros
"Leading Future Eco-Friendly Ship Market with Clean Energy Technology"

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering is making a full-scale entry into the hydrogen fuel cell market, which is gaining attention as the next-generation clean energy.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering announced on the 26th that its subsidiary HD Hydrogen recently acquired Convion, a global leading company in the fuel cell system sector, for approximately 72 million euros, equivalent to 107 billion KRW.

HD Hydrogen and Convion CI (Provided by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore)

Located in Helsinki, Finland, Convion was established in 2012 as a specialist company in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC). It is one of the few companies worldwide with commercial SOFC power generation system technology and supply achievements.

SOFC and SOEC are core technologies of hydrogen energy. Due to their operation at high temperatures, they have very high technical difficulty and require long development periods, so securing core technology is expected to have a significant first-mover advantage.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyzer market is expected to grow by an average of 30% annually, centered on onshore power generation, expanding from 2.5 trillion KRW in 2023 to 17 trillion KRW by 2030. Especially, with the full-scale use of hydrogen fuel cells for ships and the commercialization of electrolyzer technology expected by 2040, the market size is projected to reach 55 trillion KRW.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering plans to secure a leading position in the hydrogen fuel cell market through a two-track strategy. HD Hydrogen will oversee the fuel cell business, handling domestic power generation and ship applications, while Convion will focus on developing core fuel cell technologies and advancing business in Europe.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Large Liquefied Hydrogen Carrier Rendering (Provided by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering)

Previously, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering invested 140 billion KRW to establish HD Hydrogen for the efficient promotion of the hydrogen fuel cell business. In addition, in October last year, it signed an investment contract worth 45 million euros with Elcogen AS, a leading fuel cell company, to advance large-capacity solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems.

A representative of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering stated, "We are focusing not only on hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyzer technologies but also on securing future energy sources such as small modular reactors (SMR). We will lead the future eco-friendly ship market with the world's best clean energy technologies."

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