As the hydrogen market is expected to expand as an eco-friendly energy industry, major countries are rushing to promote hydrogen utilization promotion policies.
On Aug. 22, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) released a report on policy research to boost the competitiveness of the Korean hydrogen industry, a comparison of hydrogen utilization promotion policies in major countries and improvement measures.
According to Deloitte, the global hydrogen market is expected to grow to about US$1 trillion in 2050, with the transportation sector accounting for about US$700 billion. The transportation sector includes hydrogen vehicles and ships. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) forecasts that hydrogen demand will reach 1.37 billion tons in 2050, of which hydrogen used for industrial purposes such as steel and petrochemicals will account for 37 percent (520 million tons).
Major countries are implementing policies to promote hydrogen utilization according to their own characteristics. Germany is promoting a program to fund industrial decarbonization and Carbon Contracts for Differences (CCfDs). The United States is promoting decarbonization policies in the transportation sector using hydrogen commercial vehicles and providing funds to increase hydrogen utilization in industrial sectors using fossil fuels, including support for hydrogen reduction steel projects.
Japan has set a goal of generating one percent of its electricity power with hydrogen and ammonia by 2030, and is supporting the development of hydrogen utilization and technology in key industries such as steel and petrochemicals through its Green Innovation Fund. China is also promoting various pilot application projects across hydrogen utilization sectors as well as a pilot city incentive program to expand the deployment of hydrogen transportation means.
The Korean government is going ahead with the diversification of hydrogen transportation means, expanding hydrogen co-firing power generation and laying the foundation for hydrogen utilization in industries with high greenhouse gas emissions. The Korean market for fuel cells for power generation has grown to become the world’s largest fuel cell market with a cumulative supply of 652 MW as of May 2023. Korea also ranks first in terms of market shares of hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles in the world.
However, Korea is still faced with insufficient charging infrastructure and local residents’ negative views about the installation of charging facilities. Last year, the Korean government wanted to see 67,000 hydrogen vehicles running in Korea, but only 29,600 were actually on the road.
Among Korea’s major R&D budgets this year, the budget for industrial hydrogen utilization is relatively small, and the budget for the core hydrogen-based carbon-neutral technology development industry was drastically cut by about 86 percent from 6.56 trillion won initially requested by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) to 935.2 billion won after a preliminary feasibility study. In this process, big cuts were made in budgets for hydrogen reduction steelmaking and a new hydrogen reduction electric furnace, too.