Plan Unveiled to Upgrade Hydrogen Industry Ecosystem

The government has released a plan to upgrade the nation's hydrogen industry ecosystem.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy released a plan on clean hydrogen supply chain establishment and hydrogen industry promotion. The purpose is to build infrastructure based on R&D achievements and tax and financial supports.

The plan includes technology development support from the government in the five fields of water electrolysis, fuel cell, hydrogen-powered ship, hydrogen vehicle and hydrogen turbine. Specifically, the efficiency of water electrolysis will be improved to at least 63 percent from the current level of 55 percent and carrier equipment development will be initiated based on LNG-powered ship-related technologies. Commercial hydrogen turbine development will be accelerated and mass production systems will be ready by 2028 for passenger, commercial and special-purpose vehicles using hydrogen as their fuel.

Some hydrogen-related technologies are expected to be categorized as national strategic technologies. Then, a deduction rate of 30 percent to 40 percent can be applied to large and mid-sized companies’ R&D activities in the hydrogen industry, 40 percent to 50 percent to smaller companies’, and 6 percent, 8 percent and 16 percent tax benefits can be applied to the three groups’ facility investments in the industry, respectively.

The plan also includes scaling up the hydrogen industry. “The hydrogen industry of South Korea has focused on small-scale hydrogen utilization in the form of hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells,” the ministry said, adding, “The scope of utilization will be expanded to cover power generation, the examples include LNG-hydrogen mixed combustion for power generation in which the ratio of hydrogen is 20 percent to 30 percent, and some new power plants will be designed on the assumption of 50 percent.”

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