Hyundai Motor announced on Jan. 20 that it held a ceremony for the completion of the hydrogen fuel cell power generation system developed by Korea East-West Power, Deokyang, and its own technology and started full-scale pilot operation.
Earlier, the three companies signed a "Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Demonstration Project MOU" in April 2019 and discussed establishing a 1MW hydrogen fuel cell power generation system and implementing a pilot project in Ulsan Thermal Power Plant.
The 1MW hydrogen fuel cell power generation system developed by Hyundai Motor consists of two container modules capable of producing 500kW of electricity.
Its biggest feature is the use of fuel cell modules for vehicles of Nexo hydrogen electric vehicles for power generation.
The facility, which is supplied through a hydrogen pipe network with subsidiary hydrogen produced at a petrochemical complex in Ulsan, produces about 8,000 MWh per year, which can supply power to about 2,200 households based on monthly usage of 300 kWh.
Given that several Nexo hydrogen electric vehicle power modules are installed in containers, it is possible to expand the supply to tens to hundreds of MW depending on the number of containers in the future.
Through this pilot project, Hyundai Motor, Korea East-West Power and Deokyang expect to significantly improve the localization rate of parts in the domestic fuel cell power generation market.
In the past, most of the fuel cells for domestic power generation were based on overseas technology, so the cost of replacing and maintaining parts was high.
The introduction of the hydrogen fuel cell system developed with Korea's own technology through this pilot project is expected to contribute to the drop in hydrogen car prices as well as the price of fuel cells for power generation.
"We will expand the application of fuel cells to other industries by commercializing them through successful pilot projects in the future and strive to expand the hydrogen industry through economies of scale," said Ji Young-jo, president of Hyundai Motor's strategic technology division.
"If the pilot project is completed, the introduction of domestic facilities in the domestic high-capacity fuel cell market will be expanded and the hydrogen economy will be revitalized," said Park Il-joon, president of Korea East-West Power. "We will continue to do our best to develop technologies and create jobs to lead the Green New Deal project."
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor is accelerating its expansion of the global hydrogen fuel cell business and hydrogen ecosystem by announcing the launch plan of the hydrogen fuel cell brand 'HTWO' with the new 2025 strategy and aiming to sell 700,000 hydrogen fuel cells in 2030.
