SK E&S announced the completion of the world's largest liquefied hydrogen plant in Incheon with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons, marking the beginning of a full-fledged era of hydrogen mobility. With the large-scale supply of liquefied hydrogen possible in Korea, the spread of hydrogen buses is also expected to accelerate.

SK E&S held the Incheon Liquefied Hydrogen Plant completion ceremony at IGE Co., Ltd. in Wonchang-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon on the 8th. IGI is a subsidiary established by SK E&S in 2021 to promote the liquefied hydrogen business.

The completion ceremony was attended by Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee Lee Jae-jung, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, KDB Industrial Bank Chairman Kang Seok-hoon, SK Corporation CEO Jang Yong-ho, Export-Import Bank of Korea President Yoon Hee-sung, IBK Industrial Bank President Kim Seong-tae, Korea Gas Safety Corporation President Park Kyung-kook, and SK E&S CEO Choo Hyung-wook.

Incheon Liquefied Hydrogen Plant is a facility that produces liquefied hydrogen by refining and cooling gaseous byproduct hydrogen generated within the process of nearby SK Incheon Petrochemical into high-purity hydrogen.

Its main facilities include three 30-ton liquefaction facilities and six 20-ton storage facilities, and it is capable of producing approximately 30,000 tons of liquefied hydrogen per year, the largest amount in the world for a single plant.

30,000 tons of liquid hydrogen is enough to operate approximately 5,000 hydrogen buses for a year.

Liquefied hydrogen is hydrogen that exists in gaseous form at room temperature and is made into liquid by cooling it to the extremely low temperature of minus 253 degrees Celsius.

Compared to gaseous hydrogen, it has a volume of 1/800 and a single transport volume of about 10 times, making it advantageous for large-scale storage and transport. It can be transported at low pressure, making it highly safe. It also has the advantages of a fast charging speed and short charging waiting time, making it a game changer that will lead the conversion of commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks to hydrogen vehicles.

For this reason, the hydrogen industry has matured overseas, centered on liquefied hydrogen, in countries such as the United States and Japan.

The Incheon Liquefied Hydrogen Plant is the first visible result of SK E&S’s plan to build a hydrogen ecosystem.

Since SK Group first announced its plan to build a liquefied hydrogen plant in Incheon at the 3rd Hydrogen Economy Committee chaired by the Prime Minister in March 2021, it has been working to create a hydrogen ecosystem centered around SK E&S. Has begun.

At that time, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said, “SK will take the lead in creating a hydrogen ecosystem in Korea and fulfill its corporate responsibility to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.”

In the process of promoting the business, public-private cooperation has been a shining example. Up until now, there have been no cases of liquid hydrogen utilization in Korea, so safety and technical standards were absent in the current law, and it would take 2-3 years just to enact new laws.

Although it seemed inevitable that the project would be delayed, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy supported the project through the regulatory sandbox system that supports the creation of new industries using innovative technologies.

The Ministry of Environment supported the construction of liquid hydrogen charging stations, which are key infrastructure for the distribution of liquid hydrogen, through a private capital support project for the installation of hydrogen charging stations.

Incheon City and Incheon Seo-gu Office also actively cooperated by leading consultations with relevant ministries on the necessary permit procedures for the timely completion of the Incheon Liquefied Hydrogen Plant.

With the completion of the liquefied hydrogen plant, Incheon City's policy of converting its city, metropolitan, and charter buses to hydrogen buses, which aims to become a leading hydrogen city, is expected to gain further momentum.

With the completion of the Incheon Liquid Hydrogen Plant, large-scale liquid hydrogen production is now possible, and the recent hydrogen charging crisis and other unstable hydrogen supply and demand issues are expected to be resolved. It is also expected that the foundation will be laid for South Korea to become a leading country in the hydrogen economy.

SK E&S plans to contribute to the creation of a full-cycle hydrogen mobility ecosystem by not only producing large-scale liquid hydrogen but also promoting a liquid hydrogen charging business.

To this end, SK E&S is promoting the construction of about 40 liquid hydrogen charging stations nationwide, centered around its subsidiary SK Plug Hyverse.

The liquid hydrogen produced in Incheon will be stably supplied to each demand source through charging stations to be installed across the country, including in Busan, Cheongju, and Icheon. The goal is to open approximately 20 liquid hydrogen charging stations this year.

An SK E&S official said, “By converting citizens’ public transportation to hydrogen vehicles, we will contribute to reducing greenhouse gases in the transportation sector, and this will be an opportunity to fully embrace the era of hydrogen public transportation that citizens can experience in their daily lives.”

On the occasion of the completion ceremony on this day, the Korea Petroleum Quality & Distribution Authority, a hydrogen distribution agency, and three domestic liquid hydrogen producers, IGE, Hyosung Hydrogen, and Hi Changwon, signed a business agreement to establish a liquid hydrogen supply and demand cooperation system. They plan to cooperate in the future to exchange liquid hydrogen quantities, exchange inventory, etc., to ensure a stable supply and demand of liquid hydrogen.

CEO Choo Hyung-wook said, “The completion ceremony of the Incheon Liquid Hydrogen Plant is the first starting point for turning SK E&S’s dream of the hydrogen era into reality, and this year will be remembered as the first year of the liquid hydrogen era that will change the course of South Korea’s energy industry history.” He added, “We will strive to contribute to creating a stable hydrogen supply and demand ecosystem by carrying out the plan to operate the Incheon Liquid Hydrogen Plant and build liquid hydrogen charging infrastructure without a hitch.”