A Roadmap for Hydrogen Technology Development

The South Korean government plans to lower hydrogen prices to the level of fossil fuel prices by 2040 through R&D.

The South Korean government came up with a plan to reduce the cost of hydrogen production to the level of fossil fuel costs by 2040 by means of a series of R&D projects. Its hydrogen technology development roadmap released on Oct. 31 includes R&D plans covering 49 technologies and techniques in five hydrogen economy-related sectors.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Ministry of Environment, and the Korean Intellectual Property Office prepared the plan for eight months with more than 70 experts in the private sector. According to the plan, technologies and techniques for inexpensive and natural gas-based mass hydrogen production will be developed until 2025 and those for high-efficiency, high-capacity, and water-based hydrogen production will be developed until 2030. Also, R&D processes related to hydrogen safety, environment and infrastructure will be completed by 2030.

The roadmap is characterized by including not only basic hydrogen ecosystem elements such as hydrogen production, storage, transport and utilization but also supporting elements such as standardization and certification.
 

The government announced a plan to set up smart city R&D test beds, too. The test beds are expected to be located in Sejong and Busan Cities.

Spaces for technological demonstration will be prepared there along with deregulation for autonomous vehicle developers, drone developers, etc. Eight government organizations related to smart city development will collaborate to launch 17 R&D projects concerning energy development, environment management and water resources.

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