The South Korean government has announced new measures to support the country’s growing hydrogen sector.

In a three-pronged strategy, the government aims to support a global supply chain to meet scaled-up hydrogen demand in the power and mobility sectors, establish a legal framework for distribution infrastructure including refuelling stations, receiving terminals and pipelines and encouraging technological innovation with the aim of commercialisation and overseas export.

South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Motie) has set a new target of producing 30,000 hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles by 2030, building 70 liquid hydrogen fuelling stations and ensuring 7.1pc of the country’s energy mix is powered by low-carbon hydrogen by 2036. Motie aims to nurture 600 hydrogen-focused South Korean companies by 2030.

The private sector is expected to play a major role in meeting these targets. The government has signed an MoU with South Korean firms SK, Hyosung, Hichangwon and Hyundai to progress a liquid hydrogen production and refuelling system. And SK, Samsung, Posco, Lotte, Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea South-East Power and Korea Western Power have signed an MoU to create a low-carbon ammonia supply chain, aiming to first produce large quantities of the chemical overseas for supply to the country’s west coast region.

Ambitious targets

The country is already considered an early-mover in hydrogen, having included fuel cells in its renewable portfolio standard up to this year, when a separate clean hydrogen portfolio standard is due to be developed.

South Korea had also set ambitious targets for hydrogen mobility in its 2019 hydrogen roadmap, targeting 6.2mn fuel-cell electric vehicles and at least 1,200 refilling stations by 2040. The country also set an interim target of 850,000 hydrogen vehicles to be sold by 2030.

The country boasted in its net-zero strategy document to the UNFCC that it had deployed the largest global fleet of hydrogen vehicles in 2019, at 5,097 registered cars. By October 2021, this had grown to 18,000 hydrogen vehicles, according to industrial gases firm Air Liquide.

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Author: Polly Martin