SOFCs Expected to Lead Future Fuel Cell Market

Officials from the government, SK Group and Bloom Energy celebrate the opening of Bloom SK Fuel Cell's plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, on Oct. 20, 2020.

SK Engineering & Construction (SK E&C) is expanding its presence in the Korean fuel cell market. It has started producing next-generation fuel cells in the Korean market with Bloom Energy of the United States, which is the world’s No. 1 fuel cell company.

An SK E&C official said on Feb. 8 that Bloom SK Fuel Cell, a joint venture between SK Group and Bloom Energy, has recently started fuel cell production at its Gumi plant. The plant produces solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs).

Stock market experts predict that SOFCs will lead the future fuel cell market. SOFCs have 10-20 percent higher electrical efficiency than the widely used phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) and uses relatively inexpensive nickel instead of expensive platinum. PAFCs have the advantage of producing electricity and heat at the same time, but SOFCs are expected to gain the upper hand at large-scale power generation facilities which do not need to generate heat.

Such anticipation is pushing up SK E&C's stock price in the over-the-counter market. SK E&C is an unlisted company, so it can be traded in the Korean over-the-counter market (K-OTC market) only. The stock price of SK E&C has soared 78.16 percent in the K-OTC market since the beginning of 2021.

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