Big Push for R&D on Hydrogen Economy
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on Feb. 26 that it would work on a technological roadmap for the hydrogen economy with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
More than 100 persons are scheduled to participate in the roadmap preparation and the roadmap is slated to be finalized in the latter half of this year.
South Korea has rapidly developed its hydrogen-related technologies for 10 years or so, yet its technological competitiveness in the field is currently 77.7 percent of that of the United States, which is leading the industry. The United States is way ahead of South Korea in hydrogen production, storage and transport in particular.
Although South Korea is distinguishing itself in hydrogen utilization in the form of hydrogen vehicles and fuel cells, more R&D is still required for more applications. In addition, the stability and environmental impact of related technologies need to be examined for full-cycle hydrogen energy R&D.
The six ministries are going to divide hydrogen energy technology into the five fields of production, storage and transport, power generation and industrial utilization, transportation, and safety, environmental application and infrastructure in preparing the roadmap. They are going to subdivide each category to come up with technological classifications and technological diagnosis and patent analysis are going to be carried out in each subdivision. Then, short-term, mid-term and long-term R&D strategies and plans will be prepared and obstacles to R&D activities will be analyzed for early field application of related technologies. The technological classification and diagnosis start next month.
After the roadmap is finalized in the latter half, the ministries will select fields requiring more investment and R&D, and then R&D projects will be launched based on inter-ministerial role sharing and collaboration.