Fuel Cell Power Generation Facilities in South Korea Continuing to Increase

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Nov. 30 that the combined capacity of the fuel cell power generation facilities built in South Korea before November this year is 714 MW, the largest in the world, and the capacity is 174 MW larger than that of the United States, which has the second-largest capacity in the world. According to the ministry, South Korea’s capacity reached 405 MW in 2019, reached 610 MW in 2020 and is expected to reach slightly less than 800 MW this year.

Experts point out that domestically developed and produced power generation fuel cells are failing to increase their market presence in spite of the rapid quantitative growth and this is because the domestic market share of Doosan Fuel Cell, which is leading the global market together with Bloom Energy, is dropping these days.

The domestic market share of the South Korean company dropped from 70 percent to 31 percent from January to November this year. This is because Bloom SK Fuel Cell is aggressively expanding its business in South Korea. Bloom SK Fuel Cell is a joint venture of Bloom Energy and SK Ecoplant.

At present, Bloom Energy manufactures solid oxide fuel cells with a power generation efficiency of 50 percent to 60 percent whereas the efficiency of phosphoric acid fuel cells manufactured by Doosan Fuel Cell is up to 45 percent.

In the meantime, the South Korean government is planning to promote the use of clean hydrogen related to power generation. At present, fuel cell power generation based on grey hydrogen entailing carbon dioxide emissions is not particularly restricted and experts are pointing out that blue hydrogen- and green hydrogen-based fuel cell power generation should be promoted.