Government Advised to Use Nuclear Power Plants
People Power Party lawmaker Han Moo-kyung said on Oct. 13 that the liquefaction, transport and storage of imported hydrogen according to the carbon neutrality scenario of the South Korean government will cost no less than 66 trillion won and the total cost including the import price is likely to be even higher.
According to the scenario announced two months ago, South Korea’s hydrogen demand in the period until 2050 is estimated at somewhere between 27.5 million tons and 29.2 million tons. The government is planning to import 80 percent to 82.4 percent of it from Australia, the Middle East, Russia and North Africa.
According to Korea Gas Corp., the liquefaction temperature of hydrogen is 252.8 degrees Celsius below zero, which is about 100 degrees Celsius lower than the liquefaction temperature of natural gas, and the amount of energy consumption for hydrogen liquefaction is approximately 40 times the amount for natural gas liquefaction. “The liquefaction of 23.9 million tons of hydrogen requires 286.8 TWh of electricity, which is more than half of the electricity Korea Electric Power Corp. sold last year,” the corporation explained, adding, “In other words, according to the scenario, more than half of the domestic power consumption needs to be used for the liquefaction alone and the cost is estimated at no less than 31.5 trillion won.”
Besides, technologies and techniques for large-scale liquid hydrogen transport are yet to be developed. “At present, LNG carriers’ average capacity is 200,000 cubic meters and the development of a liquid hydrogen carrier of the same capacity is not easy,” it said, continuing, “The government’s goal for 2030 is just 20,000 cubic meters and the transport cost cannot be accurately estimated in that large-scale liquid hydrogen transport is still in the process of development.”
The corporation pointed out that no existing hydrogen storage and transport methods are definitely feasible economically and that hydrogen storage and import and export terminal construction will cost more than five trillion won according to the scenario.
“Another problem is that a lot of hydrogen will evaporate in the process of transport given that the evaporation gas generation from liquid hydrogen is about 10 times that from LNG,” it said, adding, “Liquid hydrogen storage facilities require a higher level of insulation such as high-performance insulators and vacuum insulation not required in the case of LNG storage tanks.” According to the corporation, transporting 23.9 million tons of liquid hydrogen is likely to entail 660,000 tons of evaporation along with a transport period of 15 days or so.
“Hydrogen technology development has yet to begin and more than 80 percent of the total demand needs to be imported according to the scenario,” the lawmaker pointed out, adding, “The government needs to face the reality and pursue carbon neutrality using the world’s finest nuclear power plants in South Korea instead.”