South Korean recently released Basic Plan for Hydrogen Economic Development at the fourth meeting of the Hydrogen Economic Committee. The plan proposes that by 2050, the country’s hydrogen energy will account for 33% of the final energy consumption and 23.8% of the power generation, becoming the largest energy exceeding oil.
According to the plan, by 2050, South Korea will only supply clean hydrogen such as green energy and blue hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The government also announced to expand hydrogen power generation. In addition to replacing the fuel and raw materials used in production processes such as steel and chemical industry with hydrogen, it would also expand the production capacity of hydrogen powered vehicles. As supporting facility, by 2050, South Korea will establish more than 2,000 hydrogenation stations across the country.
The government also expects to generate KWR 1,319 trillion, creating 567,000 jobs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions of more than 200 million tons after the implementation of the plan.
South Korea has issued many policies in the past two years to become a leading country in hydrogen energy and dominate the global hydrogen energy market.
In August 2018, the government identified the hydrogen energy industry as one of the three strategic investment areas.
In January 2019, it issued the “Roadmap of Hydrogen Energy Economic Development“, formulated the hydrogen energy economic development and hydrogen energy safety management law, and established the hydrogen energy economic committee.
In February 2020, South Korea promulgated the Law on Promoting Hydrogen Economy and Hydrogen Safety Management, which is the world’s first management bill to achieve relevant goals.
In October 2021, the government announced the “Vision of Leading Countries in Hydrogen Energy“, trying to build a clean hydrogen energy production system with a capacity of 1 million tons by 2030, and increase the proportion of clean hydrogen energy to 50%.
The government also plans to significantly increase the relevant budget and will invest KRW 1.3 trillion won next year.
It will also create a hydrogen energy ecological environment covering production, circulation and application. In terms of circulation, the government plans to commercialize ammonia powered ships and liquid hydrogen transport ships in advance, lay a foundation for hydrogen energy import, and expand infrastructure such as hydrogen energy charging stations. In terms of application, the government will widely apply hydrogen fuel vehicle technology, and will further expand the scale of hydrogen power generation.
Private enterprises, including Hyundai Motor, SK, POSCO, Hanwha and Hyosung also plan to invest KRW 43 trillion in hydrogen energy by 2030.
