Korea – Lawmakers Urge Government to Guarantee Minimum Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market
National Assembly Press Conference Calls for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market Protection Kim Yong-tae: “Attempts to Kill Domestic Hydrogen Industry Must Stop”
As the government moves toward shrinking the hydrogen fuel cell market, calls are growing to protect the sector, which is seen as a key power infrastructure in the era of AI transformation (AX).
Rep. Kim So-hee of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Climate Crisis, held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and said of the government’s hydrogen fuel cell industry policy, “The government must halt attempts to shrink the hydrogen fuel cell market and guarantee a minimum market that domestic companies can survive on.”
She said,
About 250 domestic hydrogen fuel cell companies that have sweated and bled trusting government policy are being pushed to the edge of a cliff under the anti-business and anti-industry policy direction of Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment,
“They are at risk of withering away in the domestic market without even being guaranteed the minimum time needed to leap into the green hydrogen era.”
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment is reportedly considering suspending or sharply reducing the mandatory supply volume of the general hydrogen power market within the Clean Hydrogen Portfolio Standard (CHPS) through a CHPS bidding notice. CHPS is a system that requires power generation companies to purchase electricity produced by fuel cells, and is divided into a general hydrogen power market centered on fuel cells and a clean hydrogen power market centered on low-carbon fuels. The government views as problematic the fact that most domestic fuel cells rely on “gray hydrogen” based on fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Kim said,
But Minister Kim Sung-hwan, the energy chief of the Lee Jae-myung administration, is trying to wipe out overnight the hydrogen fuel cell ecosystem that domestic companies have built up over a long time in terms of technology, manpower and supplier supply chains,
“Trapped in the dogma that renewable energy is the only answer, Minister Kim is insisting on using only hydrogen produced from renewable energy.”
She added,
The industry is not demanding excessive favors,
“It is a plea for survival, simply asking the government to maintain a minimum demonstration volume of 200 megawatts over the next five years in the hydrogen power market that the government itself created.”
Rep. Kim Yong-tae of the People Power Party, also a member of the Climate Crisis Special Committee, criticized, “Minister Kim is trying to push the industry itself out by emphasizing greenhouse gas emissions from LNG-based fuel cells. The annual greenhouse gas emissions from 200 megawatts of power generation are only equivalent to the level produced by a large steel mill’s blast furnace operating for about two weeks.”
He said,
Compared to Korea’s total greenhouse gas emissions in the power generation sector, it is a very minimal 0.18%
“If energy policy, a century-long national plan, is swayed by a minister’s personal preferences, companies can no longer trust government policy and invest.”
He urged,
Immediately stop attempts to wither the domestic hydrogen industry ecosystem,
“Guarantee a minimum market so that domestic companies can transition to the green hydrogen era and grow into a global export industry.”
Meanwhile, hydrogen fuel cells are evaluated as a suitable power infrastructure for urban AI data centers because they require less installation space compared to solar and wind power. According to the Korea Hydrogen Fuel Cell Industry Association, power demand from AI data centers is projected to rise from 1,050 TWh in 2026 to 1,800 TWh in 2030.
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Korea – Lawmakers Urge Government to Guarantee Minimum Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market, source
