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South Korea outlines hydrogen roadmap to boost industry

  • Spanish Market: Fertilizers, Hydrogen
  • 10/11/22

South Korea is aiming to boost its hydrogen industry by creating large-scale domestic demand, developing relevant infrastructure and establishing a global supply chain.

The country's trade, industry and energy ministry Motie expects these measures to have an economic effect of 47.1 trillion South Korean won ($34.1bn) and to cut 28mn t of greenhouse gases by 2030, without specifying a baseline, it said on 9 November.

The ministry said South Korea's hydrogen policies were "initially limited" to areas like hydrogen cars and power generation fuel cells. The ministry added that this prevented the country from being as competitive as other developed nations in areas such as hydrogen production, storage and transportation.

Motie noted that the country's hydrogen ecosystem was "chiefly centered around grey hydrogen", resulting in an "insignificant" effect in greenhouse gas reduction. Gray hydrogen is produced from natural gas and is also a by-product of petrochemicals and steelmaking process, with no carbon abating measures.

The government plans to create large-scale hydrogen demand in the transportation, power generation and industrial sectors. South Korea aims to raise its supply of high-mobility vehicles such as hydrogen buses and trucks, with a goal of producing 30,000 hydrogen commercial vehicles and building 70 liquid hydrogen-refuelling stations in the country by 2030. The country also plans to utilise hydrogen and ammonia in its power generation, with a goal of achieving 7.1pc of clean hydrogen power generation by 2036. South Korean firm Posco in September revealed plans to introduce hydrogen co-firing power generation technology, in what the firm described as the country's first hydrogen hybrid power generation project, with an aim of generating over 950 GWh/yr.

South Korea also hopes to establish large-scale domestic and overseas production bases. The country recently launched its first large-scale hydrogen demonstration project in Jeju city, aiming to produce 1,176 t/yr of hydrogen at a 60pc utilisation rate.

There are also plans to develop infrastructure for distribution to ramp up clean hydrogen utilisation. This includes establishing a hydrogen power generation bidding market next year, enacting legislation for hydrogen business, and introducing a clean hydrogen certification system in 2024.

South Korea also plans to secure core technologies across the entire hydrogen value chain. This includes developing technologies in seven areas: water electrolysis, liquid hydrogen carriers, trailers, charging stations, fuel cell (mobility), fuel cell (power generation), and hydrogen turbines. Regulations that hamper businesses will be removed and domestic production will be commercialised for export to overseas markets. The country also hopes to foster 600 hydrogen-specialised companies by 2030 from the current 52 firms.

The country plans to build the world's largest liquid hydrogen plant and increase the number of liquefied refuelling stations. It will also build a 4mn t/yr ammonia receiving terminal and a 100,000 t/yr liquid hydrogen receiving terminal, as well as install a hydrogen-only pipeline network.

Supply chain agreements

Domestic companies are collaborating in the development of a clean ammonia supply for use in clean power generation in the country.

Manufacturer Samsung, conglomerates SK and Lotte, steelmaker Posco, and state-owned oil company KNOC agreed to co-operate in producing large volumes of clean ammonia overseas to supply South Korea's west coast. State-owned utilities Korea South-East Power and Korea Western Power will then use the ammonia in clean power generation.

South Korean chemical producer Lotte Fine Chemical last month announced it will import 50,000t of blue ammonia from Saudi Arabia by the end of this year. Lotte Chemical also signed a deal in October to develop supply chains for low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia, eyeing production facilities in Australia and Chile.

South Korean firms are also working to create a liquid hydrogen ecosystem. SK, conglomerate Hyosung and liquid hydrogen producer Hychangwon will build a liquid hydrogen plant and charging station, with automaker Hyundai Motor supplying hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles. Motie and other relevant ministries will also strengthen support for related policies to "foster an exemplary liquid hydrogen ecosystem", Motie said.


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04/11/24

US railroad-labor contract talks heat up

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Kuwait's KPC lifts November sulphur price to $135/t fob


04/11/24
04/11/24

Kuwait's KPC lifts November sulphur price to $135/t fob

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Mexican hydrogen regulatory efforts gain ground


01/11/24
01/11/24

Mexican hydrogen regulatory efforts gain ground

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Port strike to halt Vancouver sulfur exports


01/11/24
01/11/24

Port strike to halt Vancouver sulfur exports

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Q&A: EU-GCC eye alliance anchored in energy, security


31/10/24
31/10/24

Q&A: EU-GCC eye alliance anchored in energy, security

Dubai, 31 October (Argus) — Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the start of the war in Gaza last year hastened the strengthening of relations between the EU and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) ꟷ something both blocs had long been striving for. Argus sat down with the EU's special representative for the Gulf region and former Italian foreign minister Luigi di Maio at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh this week to discuss his hopes for the future of the relationship. You spoke at the conference about a comprehensive EU-GCC trade agreement. Such a thing has been on the table for a while without really moving forward. Could the first ever EU-GCC summit two weeks ago in Brussels provide the push needed for it to happen? The final statement of the summit clearly emphasised the importance of finalising the negotiation in a positive way, and reaching the free trade agreement at a regional level as soon as possible. Then we can start tailor-made negotiations on trade and investments. This can work in complementarity with the free trade agreement, for instance, on investments and energy co-operation bilaterally. This doesn't mean we are going to kill the free trade agreement at the regional level, but there are some sectorial co-operations that we can implement. This is a very good starting point. I would say the summit was ‘the message' because although our co-operation agreement dates back to the late 1980s, it was the first ever summit. Of course, that also testifies to the gap that we have to fill. This is why the EU approved the new strategy and why there is a special representative to implement this strategy. And why we are working with the Gulf countries to negotiate and implement [it] as soon as possible. Riyadh is where we opened the first ever European Chamber of Commerce in the GCC. The EU and Saudi Arabia are going to sign an energy co-operation MoU by the end of the year. The text has been discussed, and now we will work for the signature. What are the elements of this energy agreement with Saudi Arabia? It is a new framework to co-operate, particularly, on renewables, hydrogen, and technologies linked to renewables. This is very important, and currently in the hands of the EU commissioner for energy, Kadri Simson, and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister of Saudi Arabia. Speaking of hydrogen, Prince Abdulaziz spoke here about Saudi Arabia being one of the lowest-cost producers of hydrogen. We also know that hydrogen is a major element of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor [IMEC] agreement signed at the G20 summit in New Delhi. Is the IMEC project still on the table? And is this growing hydrogen relationship between the EU and the GCC part of it? First, the lesson we, the EU, learned is diversification. So, it's very important to implement our diversification policy on any kind of energy source. It is not only linked to oil, gas or hydrogen, or in general, technologies, raw materials and production. Then there is the issue of how much we can count on the suppliers. The Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and others have always been reliable partners. This is why we see the energy co-operation as a pillar of our partnership. On hydrogen, there is a mutual interest to meet our ambitions. Our ambition, according to the European Commission's REPowerEU proposal, is for the EU to produce 10mn t of hydrogen on its soil by 2030, and import another 10 mn t. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman are working with our companies and member states to export hydrogen to Europe. And I think the development of technologies and new projects around that will be at the core of our future co-operation. If you look at Vision 2030, here in Saudi Arabia, but even in the UAE and in the other countries, many of the goals are in line with our REPowerEU, NextGenerationEU, or the European Green Deal proposals. So there is momentum, and we are taking it. We are trying to fill the gap of the past. And the very important thing, not only about hydrogen, but even about the climate co-operation that is in our final statement [of the EU-GCC summit], is that it's not an "Una tantum" [one-off] event. We are working to have the ministerial foreign ministers' meeting in Kuwait next year and the next EU-GCC summit in Saudi Arabia in 2026. We have a long road ahead to implement the deliverables of the last summit, but also to improve our co-operation on renewables. There was a significant breakthrough at Cop 28 with the mention of fossil fuels in the final declaration. Do you see the growing EU-GCC relationship as a leverage to push GCC countries on their climate agendas and goals? The approach should not be that we push them on their climate agendas. We are working together. And thanks to the multilateral relations, ambitions and policies that we have, we can, even in view of Cop 29, co-ordinate in the same way we did at Cop 28. This is very important, because thanks to their influential foreign policy, on Africa, on central Asia, even sometimes on Latin America, and our ambitions and partners around the world, we can merge our relations to take another step forward on climate policy. But as you said, Cop 28 was historic, as consensus was the most ambitious result of the UN climate Cops, and I think we have to continue on this path together. It is not a matter of pushing someone. It's a matter of co-operation. Our level of partnership with GCC has to switch at a strategic level. We want to create a strategic partnership on peace and prosperity. This is our agreed ambition on both sides. Speaking of peace and prosperity, Iran is involved indirectly in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and its direct confrontation with Israel leaves the GCC sandwiched in the middle. How do you see the EU working with the GCC to attain peace and prosperity, given the increased insecurity in the region? We share with the GCC the interest of peace, prosperity and stability of the region. Because if you look at these countries, what are they doing on Ukraine, like returning children and prisoner exchanges… They are very active, and we appreciate their efforts. So my perception is that the more we work with the GCC on regional stability, the more we will achieve results, because we have a common agenda. They will be very important for the future of the two-state solution, but also for the stability of Lebanon. Even for conveying messages of de-escalation to Iran. The channels with Iran have to be open… to convey messages about nuclear, ballistic missiles, about weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine, and the ‘Axis of Resistance' policy in the region, about the Red Sea and the freedom of navigation. We have to use all the channels we have and the channels the GCC have are precious because of the normalisation processes in the region, just like the Iran-Saudi Arabia one. By Bachar Halabi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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