SK E&S Partners with Namdong Power to Collaborate on Green Hydrogen and Ammonia Projects

SK E&S Supplies Electrolyzers for Green Hydrogen Production
Namdong Power Utilizes Them for Co-Firing Generation

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seoyoon] SK E&S is partnering with Korea South-East Power (KOEN) to collaborate on green hydrogen and ammonia projects based on domestic and international renewable energy resources.

SK E&S announced that on the 18th, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on "Carbon Neutrality and Domestic and International Green Hydrogen and Ammonia Production and Import" with SK Plug Hyverse and Korea South-East Power.

SK Plug Hyverse is a joint venture (JV) established in January this year by SK E&S and the U.S. hydrogen company Plug Power (hereafter ‘Plug’) to jointly promote business in the Asian region.

This MOU aims for the three companies to cooperate on utilizing green hydrogen and ammonia produced domestically and internationally for co-firing power generation. Korea South-East Power will be responsible for importing and co-firing the produced hydrogen and ammonia, while SK E&S will supply electrolyzers (water electrolysis equipment) for green hydrogen production through SK Plug Hyverse.

Specifically, Korea South-East Power plans to purchase and use the produced green hydrogen and ammonia as co-firing fuels at its coal and gas power plants operating domestically. This approach allows existing power facilities to be retrofitted at low cost to combust hydrogen and ammonia together with conventional fuels such as coal and natural gas, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

SK E&S will supply polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) type electrolyzers necessary for green hydrogen production through SK Plug Hyverse and provide the required technical support. Electrolyzers are devices that produce hydrogen by electrolyzing water (H2O), serving as key equipment for producing carbon-free ‘green hydrogen (H2)’. Subsequently, green hydrogen can be synthesized with nitrogen (N) to produce ‘green ammonia (NH3)’, which is convenient for international transport.

SK E&S explained that this MOU is meaningful as SK Plug Hyverse, cooperating with the global hydrogen leader Plug, and Korea South-East Power, which supplies about 10% of the country’s total electricity, have jointly embarked on the green hydrogen and ammonia business, which is gaining attention as a major future energy source.

The PEM electrolyzers to be supplied by SK Plug Hyverse have advantages over alkaline electrolyzers, including shorter startup times and superior load response capabilities, effectively compensating for the intermittency of renewable energy power input during green hydrogen production. Additionally, their compact size and lower maintenance costs make them notable as next-generation electrolyzer equipment.

Plug, which has accumulated 40 years of expertise in electrolyzer technology, ranked first in the global PEM electrolyzer market share as of the first quarter of this year. Recently, it announced large-scale electrolyzer supply contracts in Denmark (1GW), Australia (250MW), the U.S. (120MW), and Egypt (100MW).

Notably, since the two companies have agreed to cooperate not only domestically but also on overseas green hydrogen and ammonia projects, this MOU is expected to lay the foundation for securing overseas hydrogen supply chains in preparation for the global transportation era of clean hydrogen.

According to the government’s ‘1st Hydrogen Economy Implementation Basic Plan’ announced last year, domestic hydrogen supply is expected to increase from about 220,000 tons annually in 2020 to 3.9 million tons in 2030 and 27.9 million tons in 2050 due to expanded demand for hydrogen vehicles, fuel cells, and other uses. To this end, various measures are currently being considered, including domestic production of blue hydrogen and producing green hydrogen cheaply in countries rich in renewable energy resources, then converting it into forms such as liquefied hydrogen or ammonia for import into Korea.

Lee Ji-young, Vice President of SK E&S’s Hydrogen Global Group and CEO of SK Plug Hyverse, said, “We are pursuing diverse projects to establish a domestic clean hydrogen and hydrogen technology ecosystem,” adding, “We plan to jointly explore various domestic and international cooperation opportunities related to green hydrogen and ammonia production and import with Korea South-East Power.”

Eun Sang-pyo, Head of New Business Division (Vice President) at Korea South-East Power, stated, “Utilizing hydrogen and ammonia is very important for achieving national carbon neutrality and delaying the stranding of thermal power assets. Considering domestic production capacity, securing overseas supply chains for hydrogen and ammonia is essential,” and added, “Together with SK E&S, we will strive to become an energy company leading the national carbon neutrality and hydrogen economy by stably producing hydrogen and ammonia overseas and importing them into Korea.”