SK E&S Accelerates Hydrogen Ecosystem with SuSoDrone R&D

Support for R&D of 'Liquefied Hydrogen Drone' Capable of Flying Over 12 Hours

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK E&S, which is expanding its business focus on future eco-friendly energy such as hydrogen and renewable energy, has taken a significant step toward expanding the hydrogen ecosystem with liquefied hydrogen drones.

On the 29th, SK E&S announced that it will jointly conduct research and development in the field of liquefied hydrogen drones together with domestic hydrogen drone specialized companies, Exens and Hylium Industries.

Also, from the same day until July 1, SK E&S will jointly operate the 'SK E&S-Hydrogen Drone Cooperation Pavilion' with a total of seven hydrogen drone specialized companies at '2021 Drone Show Korea' held at BEXCO in Busan, showcasing more than 20 different types of hydrogen drones including liquefied hydrogen drones. SK E&S, which has announced a total investment plan of 18 trillion KRW to promote its hydrogen business, plans to actively support the research and development of liquefied hydrogen drones by drone-specialized small and venture companies using its win-win cooperation fund and cooperate for early commercialization.

Hydrogen drones use hydrogen, which has a high energy density, as fuel, enabling long flight times and the ability to carry heavy loads despite their light weight. They are expected to play a significant role in logistics and transportation fields such as drone delivery and drone taxis in the future. In particular, liquefied hydrogen, which SK E&S focuses on most among various fields of the hydrogen ecosystem, has a higher storage density than gaseous hydrogen, allowing for lightweight fuel tanks, and its storage pressure is about 1/100 that of gaseous hydrogen, greatly enhancing safety.

An SK E&S official emphasized, "Liquefied hydrogen drones, capable of flying for more than 12 hours, have outstanding advantages compared to lithium-ion battery drones that can hardly fly for more than 30 minutes or gaseous hydrogen drones that can fly for 2 to 3 hours. Therefore, they have high utility value in a wide range of fields such as long-distance control, monitoring of hazardous facilities, search and rescue, and delivery in island and mountainous areas."

Going forward, SK E&S plans to actively utilize liquefied hydrogen drones for safety inspections of facilities that are difficult for people to access, such as urban gas pipelines laid in outskirts and remote offshore wind farms. The company explained that using liquefied hydrogen drones enables long-distance or long-duration inspections and also prevents safety accidents among inspectors, expecting a triple effect.

Meanwhile, at the '2021 Drone Show Korea,' where SK E&S participated jointly with drone-specialized small and venture companies, the company will showcase various latest hydrogen drones and also present the future vision of the hydrogen economy through hydrogen drones.