Fuel Cell Order Target Reduced from 248MW to 91MW
Hydrogen Refueling Station Construction Delayed, Resulting in Postponed Delivery of Hydrogen Dispensers
Doosan Fuel Cell lowered its order target by more than 60% last year. According to the preliminary settlement results, new orders faced setbacks, leading to a revision of the target from the previous 248MW to 91MW. As a result, Doosan Fuel Cell's order volume last year is expected to be about half of the previous year's 168MW. The sales and operating profit targets were also significantly lowered to 260 billion KRW and 1.4 billion KRW, respectively, down from the previous 508.4 billion KRW and 23.3 billion KRW.
A Doosan Fuel Cell official said on the 11th, "Due to high interest rates and high inflation, orders for fuel cells related to the hydrogen power generation bidding market were delayed, forcing us to lower our order targets. We expect fuel cell orders to resume once the clean hydrogen power generation bidding market is implemented this year."
Doosan Fuel Cell entered the fuel cell market in 2014 by acquiring ClearEdge Power, a US-based company holding core technology for power generation fuel cells. The main product currently produced is the Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC), a high-efficiency power generation facility with a maximum efficiency of 90%, which simultaneously produces electricity (43%) and heat (47%) through the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen.
In addition, in September 2021, Doosan Fuel Cell entered the overseas market by supplying four 440kW hydrogen fuel cells to the Nanhai area of Foshan City, China. In 2022, Doosan Fuel Cell signed a fuel cell supply contract with China's ZKRG for 105MW. Of the total 105MW hydrogen fuel cells, 50MW will be exported as finished products by 2024, and 55MW as components by 2026 in stages.
To expand its fuel cell business area, Doosan Fuel Cell is also developing a 60kW hydrogen fuel cell power pack for construction machinery and hydrogen fuel cells for ships. The company plans to complete the demonstration of the power pack to be applied to Doosan Bobcat's skid loader by 2026.
However, recently, Doosan Fuel Cell's hydrogen fuel cell business has slowed down, resulting in poor performance. Operating profit for the first to third quarters last year was 4.3 billion KRW, marking a return to profitability, but sales decreased by 6.6% year-on-year to 144.6 billion KRW. According to FnGuide, a financial information company, the consensus for Doosan Fuel Cell's performance last year (average securities firm forecast) was sales of 315.6 billion KRW and operating profit of 14.5 billion KRW. The previous year recorded sales of 312.1 billion KRW and operating profit of 7.2 billion KRW.
Doosan Fuel Cell also slowed down its investment pace by extending the investment in new next-generation fuel cell production facilities, which was to be completed by the end of last year, by 1 year and 4 months to after 2025. The completion date for the 50MW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) production facility that Doosan Fuel Cell plans to build in Saemangeum, Gunsan, Jeonbuk, has been postponed to the end of April next year.
Although the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is accelerating carbon-free (CF) energy projects such as nuclear power and hydrogen, companies operating hydrogen businesses are still struggling with a cold spell.
Beomhan Fuel Cell, which operates hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen charging station businesses, has also recently experienced delays in major transactions. Since the end of last year, the construction of hydrogen charging stations in Mokpo Yeonsan, Busan Manhwa, Nonsan City, Jinhae New Port, and Daejin Passenger has been delayed, postponing the delivery of hydrogen chargers. Beomhan Fuel Cell recorded sales of 23 billion KRW in the first to third quarters last year but posted an operating loss of 3.1 billion KRW.
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