BHI Achieves Korea's First MW-Scale Green Hydrogen Production Demonstration Success

BHIG has successfully completed the first megawatt (MW)-scale green hydrogen production demonstration project in South Korea. On the 3rd, BHIG announced that it has completed the infrastructure construction of the ‘Ansan Water Electrolysis Green Hydrogen Production Facility’ and is currently undergoing the completion inspection. Once the inspection is finished, the ownership of the facility will initially be transferred to KEPCO KPS for pilot operation aimed at commercialization, and later it will be finally transferred to Ansan City to begin full-scale hydrogen production.

This demonstration holds great significance as it is the first MW-scale green hydrogen production facility construction project conducted in South Korea. Although green hydrogen production facilities are being established in various regions across the country, Ansan City was selected as one of the first ‘Hydrogen Pilot Cities’ when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport promoted the pilot city project in 2019.

The Ansan Water Electrolysis Green Hydrogen Production Facility produces hydrogen using 100% clean energy. It operates two water electrolysis units using electricity supplied from nearby wind power facilities, producing hydrogen with a purity of over 99.995%. The produced hydrogen is compressed to a high pressure of 200 bar and stored in tube trailers (hydrogen storage tanks).

The Ansan green hydrogen production facility can produce more than 100 kg of green hydrogen daily, and at 100% operating rate, it is capable of producing approximately 500 kg of hydrogen per day. It is known that a single commercially available hydrogen vehicle in South Korea requires up to about 6 kg of hydrogen per full charge.

Through this achievement, BHIG has secured a commercialization reference for EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) of large-scale green hydrogen production facilities using the alkaline water electrolysis method. The alkaline water electrolysis method is an economically advantageous technology that does not require precious metal catalysts and is easy to scale up.

A BHIG official stated, “With the success of this demonstration, BHIG has established an important foothold to become a leader in the domestic green hydrogen production sector,” adding, “Especially since we led the project as an EPC contractor, this achievement will serve as a core competitive advantage that differentiates us from other companies.”

He continued, “We will continue ongoing research and innovation to achieve remarkable results in eco-friendly energy fields following the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and nuclear power facilities, establishing ourselves as a leading domestic company,” and said, “We will steadily diversify global ‘decarbonization and carbon neutrality’ response strategies.”