State-run Power Companies Expanding Facilities
The capacity of fuel cell facilities and the trading volume of fuel cell-based power skyrocketed after the South Korean government released its hydrogen economy roadmap in January this year.
The Korea Power Exchange announced on April 21 that the capacity reached 345,000 kW in January this year, up 36.9 percent from a year ago. The rate of increase was 8.7 percent during the same period when it comes to all of the facilities using new and renewable energy sources. Specifically, the capacity of solar power generation facilities and the capacity of wind power generation facilities increased 27.2 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively.
The trading volume, in the meantime, increased 37.7 percent year on year and reached an all-time high, 184.1 GWh, since records began in October 2006. The rate of increase was 47.7 percent for solar energy, 15.6 percent for wind energy, 8.7 percent for marine energy, 8.1 percent for hydro energy, 6.5 percent for bio energy and 2 percent for waste-based energy.
Such rapid increases related to fuel cell-based power generation are because the state-run power companies of Korea Electric Power Corp. are expanding their fuel cell power generation facilities in line with the roadmap. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on April 19 that 10.1 GW of fuel cells will be supplied in South Korea until 2040.