Yeosu City Attracts Investment of Over 5.6 Trillion Won in Future New Industry Sectors

5.706 Trillion KRW Investment in the 8th Civilian Administration, Creating 2,644 Jobs

Blue Hydrogen, ESS Manufacturing, Solar Materials, Biodiesel, and More

Yeosu City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Jeong Gi-myeong) announced that since the 8th local government administration, it has signed investment agreements with 19 companies totaling approximately 5.5706 trillion KRW, including future new industries such as blue hydrogen, ESS manufacturing, solar power, and biodiesel, resulting in the creation of about 2,600 jobs.

This achievement is the best among other cities and counties in Jeollanam-do in terms of investment scale and job creation. Last year, Jeollanam-do recognized these results in its investment attraction evaluation, awarding Yeosu an excellence prize in areas such as investment attraction and job creation.

[Photo by Yeosu City]

The city has actively promoted investment attraction focusing on excellent and promising companies in future new growth industries to strengthen urban competitiveness and create a self-sufficient city.

In particular, it has actively pursued investment attraction activities through ▲ inducing new and expanded investments in response to the acceleration of industrial and energy transitions ▲ attracting foreign investment companies with high connectivity to the local industrial supply chain ▲ strengthening conditions and publicity for investment activation.

■ Inducing new and expanded investments in response to the acceleration of industrial and energy transitions

Yeosu City has led new and expanded investments in future new industries such as blue hydrogen, ESS manufacturing, solar material, and biodiesel to respond to the government's carbon neutrality policy, renewable energy demand, and to enhance business competitiveness.

Regarding the 'Blue Hydrogen Production Cluster' project, which includes hydrogen production facilities, carbon capture, liquefaction, and storage facilities to be built on the site of the Myodo Port redevelopment project, it is expected to expand the supply of clean hydrogen to the Yeosu Industrial Complex by linking with the Gwangyang Bay hydrogen ring network project, leading to mutual development with the region and co-growth of partner companies.

Additionally, manufacturing facilities producing EVA {ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer}?a core material for solar module sheets used in coatings and wires?are planned to be established within the Yeosu National Industrial Complex, along with the expansion of biodiesel plant production facilities.

The global demand for EVA products exceeds 4.6 million tons annually and is growing at over 9% per year.

This is evaluated as laying the foundation to grow into a global EVA manufacturing company by utilizing the material production capabilities accumulated over 50 years by companies located in the national industrial complex and competitive raw materials.

Furthermore, companies operating biodiesel production plants plan to expand their biodiesel plant production facilities considering international environmental regulations and the expanding global biofuel market.

■ Attracting foreign investment companies with high connectivity to the local industrial supply chain

To create an industrial ecosystem where sustainable development and carbon neutrality are accelerating, the city plans to contribute to carbon neutrality practices and secure business feasibility through connections with global companies.

In this regard, a German company (Linde PLC), which holds a 30-50% market share in global industrial gases (hydrogen, nitrogen, etc.) and liquefied hydrogen production, and is the world's number one hydrogen energy company with hydrogen, ammonia production, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, signed an investment agreement worth 800 million USD.

Hydrogen energy is expected to be a game changer for the transition to a decarbonized economy and will be widely used across industries. It is also anticipated to contribute to stabilizing the power grid by reducing renewable energy variability through energy storage and power generation using hydrogen.

Additionally, an investment agreement was signed with Narada Energy (Ltd.), a leading Chinese energy storage system (ESS) company, to build an ESS manufacturing facility worth 50 million USD in the Yulchon Industrial Complex.

This company is known as the number one manufacturer of lithium iron phosphate batteries and ESS equipment in China, with sales of 2.5 trillion KRW and operations in 160 countries worldwide.

It possesses proprietary lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery production, battery management system (BMS), and related system technologies and know-how.

Moreover, the Yulchon Industrial Complex, where this company will be located, is considered an optimal business site for the industry, equipped with manufacturing bases for POSCO steel, Yeosu Industrial Complex, and battery materials for secondary batteries.

■ Strengthening administrative support such as improving conditions and publicity for investment activation

Last year, the city provided continuous follow-up management and support to resolve difficulties for 15 investment (promising) companies through on-site consultations, sparing no effort to create a favorable investment environment.

Also, the city has strengthened administrative support to create an optimal investment environment by providing one-stop support for permits and approvals related to new and expanded investments by local companies, incentive support policies from the central government and local governments, and financial and tax support policies.

This year, Yeosu City plans to continuously promote policies for attracting future new industries, linking with global companies, creating investment conditions, and supporting companies to strengthen industrial competitiveness, corporate social responsibility, and co-growth with the local community for both existing and prospective investment companies.

Mayor Jeong Gi-myeong said, “We will continue to actively support investment companies to become global leading companies in their fields,” adding, “We will continuously attract global companies and new industries to secure new growth engines for the regional industry and establish Yeosu as a hub city in the southern coast and central southern region.”

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr