Korea to build five hydrogen clusters with W1.2tr

South Korea will spend 1.27 trillion won ($1.07 billion) to establish five hydrogen clusters across the country and roll out necessary infrastructure there, as the nation prepares an aggressive transition to a hydrogen economy, the government said Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the five are: a green hydrogen production cluster in North Jeolla Province, a blue hydrogen production cluster in Incheon, a hydrogen storage and transportation cluster in Gangwon Province, a hydrogen mobility cluster in Ulsan and a hydrogen fuel cell cluster in North Gyeongsang Province.

The project is part of the government’s road map to put 6.2 million hydrogen vehicles on the road by 2040 -- 5.9 million passenger cars, 60,000 buses, 120,000 taxis and 120,000 trucks. Such a massive fleet would require about 5.26 million metric tons of hydrogen annually.

In North Jeolla Province, where the nation’s solar farms are concentrated, the Industry Ministry will construct an electrolysis facility, which will break water into oxygen and hydrogen using clean electricity generated by a 100-megwatt solar farm located in the nearby Saemangeum reclamation area.

In Incheon, the ministry will collect bio gases from landfills and produce hydrogen. The Incheon cluster will also produce blue hydrogen from fossil fuels.

The Gangwon Province cluster will serve as a hydrogen storage and transportation hub, with plans to build a liquid hydrogen plant, due to its proximity with a liquefied natural gas terminal in the coastal city of Samcheok.

Meanwhile, North Gyeongsang Province will establish a certification center that verifies the quality of hydrogen fuel cells.

For Ulsan, the ministry will set up a technical support center for hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen-based construction and industrial machineries.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)