Kim Dong-yeon: "I will do my best to popularize the hydrogen economy in response to climate change"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon expressed his commitment to doing his best to popularize the hydrogen economy as one of the measures to respond to the climate crisis.

Governor Kim attended the completion ceremony of the Pyeongtaek hydrogen production facility held on the 27th at Wonjeong-ri, Poseung-eup, Pyeongtaek (Asan National Industrial Complex Wonjeong district), saying "one of the future challenges we must overcome is climate change" and "the Pyeongtaek hydrogen production facility is expected to play a major role in popularizing the hydrogen economy."

Governor Kim added, "The Pyeongtaek hydrogen production facility will become the largest hydrogen production base in South Korea, producing more than 7 tons of hydrogen per day," and "in the era of carbon neutrality, I have no doubt that the Pyeongtaek hydrogen production facility will serve as a key energy source."

The Pyeongtaek hydrogen production facility was selected in December 2019 for the "Hydrogen Production Base Construction Project" promoted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, with a total project cost of 23 billion won (4.85 billion won in national funds, 3 billion won in provincial funds, 7 billion won in municipal funds, and 8.15 billion won from the private sector).

The facility produces hydrogen by reforming natural gas supplied from the Pyeongtaek LNG receiving terminal (a process in which hydrogen is produced by thermally decomposing natural gas with hot steam). From as early as next month, it plans to produce a maximum of 7 tons per day (approximately 2,450 tons annually) of hydrogen.

This is the capacity to fully charge approximately 1,200 hydrogen vehicles per day (approximately 410,000 vehicles annually), making it Korea's largest.

Currently, most of the 33 hydrogen charging stations operating in the Seoul metropolitan area (20 in Gyeonggi, 7 in Seoul, 6 in Incheon) receive hydrogen from distant locations such as Daesan, Ulsan, and Yeosu, which are more than 120 km away on average.

With this completion, hydrogen transportation costs are expected to decrease significantly, which should also lead to lower hydrogen supply prices in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province and Pyeongtaek previously announced in July last year the creation of the "Pyeongtaek Port Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen Complex District," and signed business agreements with 20 public institutions and private companies.

The "Pyeongtaek Port Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen Complex District Project" aims to create the Pyeongtaek Port area, the nation's largest concentration of key infrastructure industries, as a carbon-neutral hydrogen complex district connecting cities, industrial complexes, and ports to realize the government's 2050 carbon neutrality target.

Governor Kim Dong-yeon has pledged to create a "Gyeonggi-type hydrogen convergence cluster" in Pyeongtaek and Ansan and to establish it as a key base for the hydrogen industry by linking it with region-specific industries.

The province and Pyeongtaek plan to build a hydrogen transportation complex facility that connects hydrogen charging facilities near Pyeongtaek Port following the hydrogen production facility, and to create a hydrogen city that uses hydrogen as the primary energy source for the city.