The Daesan Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Plant, supplied with 114 main fuel cell units by Doosan Fuel Cell (Photo by Doosan)
[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Doosan Group has taken the lead in the hydrogen market by spearheading companies such as Doosan Fuel Cell and Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI).
On the 20th, Doosan announced that it has established a group-level hydrogen task force team (TFT) to analyze the global hydrogen market, identify market opportunities by country and policy, and formulate business strategies. This TFT plans to establish its strategy within the first half of the year.
The hydrogen TFT, composed of specialized personnel from affiliates such as Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and Doosan Fuel Cell, has first partnered with external expert organizations to begin analyzing the global hydrogen market. The goal is to explore the market across the entire value chain?from hydrogen production, storage, and transportation to distribution, power generation, and mobility?and to establish business execution plans. In particular, it is focusing on the North American market, which has high growth potential following the launch of the environmentally friendly policies under the Joe Biden administration, and is dedicating efforts to analyzing the hydrogen market by each U.S. state. Additionally, the TFT is concentrating on improving the efficiency of existing hydrogen technologies owned by Doosan Group and formulating strategies to secure essential core technologies needed in the future.
A Doosan official stated, "We plan to gather the accumulated capabilities within the group to create maximum synergy effects and aggressively pursue rapid capability enhancement through strategic partnerships or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for any additional needs." He added, "A concrete plan will be unveiled soon."
Doosan is also planning to release a blueprint for the hydrogen industry in the near future. Doosan Fuel Cell, a developer of fuel cells for power generation, has achieved new orders exceeding 1 trillion KRW for three consecutive years and has set a goal to reach 1.5 trillion KRW in sales in 2023. Doosan Fuel Cell currently focuses on producing phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) as its main product and is also developing solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology in collaboration with the UK-based Ceres Power.
Additionally, Doosan Fuel Cell Power Co., Ltd. offers a lineup of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) including 5 kW and 10 kW units for buildings, 1 kW units for homes, and 100 kW-class hydrogen systems. In the hydrogen mobility sector, Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI) has already established competitiveness by developing and mass-producing hydrogen drones.
The group also plans to expand the hydrogen business areas of its affiliates. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction signed a contract with Changwon City in Gyeongnam Province and others at the end of last year to enter the hydrogen liquefaction plant business, currently constructing the plant on the site of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s Changwon factory with a target completion date next year. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is also the largest shareholder of Doosan Fuel Cell, holding a 30.3% stake, and will focus on creating synergy effects with Doosan Fuel Cell in the hydrogen business.
Last month, Doosan Fuel Cell expanded its business scope by adding new business purposes at its shareholders’ meeting, including △manufacturing, sales, and services of hydrogen products △installation and operation of hydrogen production and hydrogen fuel supply facilities △electric vehicle charging. It has also started developing PEMFC-based water electrolysis technology to capture the green hydrogen equipment market, which is expected to grow to over 30 trillion KRW by 2030. DMI is expanding from aerial to ground mobility sectors.
Doosan also stated that it is strengthening the hydrogen production base in addition to utilization and distribution. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is participating in the ‘Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project’ launched at the end of last year in Jeju Island, planning to produce green hydrogen at the wind power complex owned by Jeju Energy Corporation. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction will also build hydrogen production systems and systems for compressing and storing the produced hydrogen there. Doosan Fuel Cell is developing a tri-generation system that produces electricity, heat, and hydrogen using gases such as LPG as raw materials under a national project.
A Doosan official said, "Although our affiliates have been conducting individual hydrogen businesses and achieving meaningful results, we expect faster growth if a higher vision is presented through the hydrogen TFT and a synergy strategy that consolidates the group’s hydrogen capabilities is implemented."
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