Donga Hwasung "Donga Fuel Cell to Enter European Market for Hydrogen Fuel Cells in 2022... Demonstration Operation to Start This Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Dong-A Fuel Cell, a subsidiary of Dong-A Hwasung, announced on the 29th that it will conduct demonstration operations of a 5kW-class High Temperature Proton Exchanged Membrane Fuel Cell (HT-PEMFC) system in Europe.

Dong-A Fuel Cell plans to obtain European certification (CE) after conducting demonstration tests in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of 2021 as part of the "Development of Local Application Technology for Export-Oriented Building Fuel Cell Systems," a project led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy since 2018 to enter overseas markets centered on Europe. For this purpose, practical consultations regarding safety, installation-related regulations in Europe, and European CE certification standards have been completed with the local Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Danish Gas Technology Centre (DGC).

The 5kW HT-PEMFC system installed and operated in Denmark by Dong-A Fuel Cell is designed to suit the local European environment, including improvements for differences in natural gas composition and calorific value in Europe, and the application of new desulfurizers.

Since 2011, Denmark and South Korea have been promoting strategic cooperation on carbon neutrality through the Green Growth Alliance. In October 2018, the first P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals) meeting was hosted in Copenhagen. Following the 2nd P4G meeting held in Seoul on May 30-31, concrete cooperation on carbon neutrality centered on hydrogen fuel cells between South Korea and Denmark has been strengthened.

Park Dallyoung, CEO of Dong-A Fuel Cell, participated in 3GF-’16 (3GF stands for Global Green Growth), the predecessor of P4G, held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2016, leading detailed discussions on local European fuel cell demonstrations with domestic fuel cell manufacturers. Since then, active exchanges of researchers and joint research have been promoted with advanced Danish hydrogen fuel cell institutions such as DTU and DPS, focusing on core element technologies of fuel cells.

Since March 2019, Dong-A Fuel Cell has been promoting a memorandum of understanding for research, development, and commercialization related to building-use high-temperature polymer fuel cell systems with DTU and Denmark Power Systems (DPS), and is improving the performance of component parts by applying the results of active joint research and development to actual products.

Europe conducted demonstration projects for more than 2,800 home and building fuel cells by 2021 through the PACE (Pathway to a Competitive European Fuel Cell micro-Cogeneration Market) project, which started in 2017, and has been carrying out full-scale distribution projects since 2022. In Europe, building fuel cells are expected to occupy about 8% of heating devices, with an estimated distribution of 142,000 units in 2040 and 155,000 units in 2050.

Dong-A Fuel Cell plans to actively enter the European market, especially Germany where electricity costs are high compared to natural gas, by obtaining European demonstration and CE certification in 2022 and through close cooperation with overseas subsidiaries of its parent company Dong-A Hwasung (such as Russia and Poland) to participate in the early market for fuel cell distribution in Europe.