Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction announced on June 6 that it recently signed a series of agreements with power generation public companies and local governments to develop and demonstrate large hydrogen gas turbines for power generation.
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction signed a business agreement with Ulsan Metropolitan City, Korea East-West Power Co., Ltd and SK Gas on June 3 to promote gas hydrogen turbine demonstration projects.
Under this agreement, Ulsan City will support the administration to build hydrogen gas turbine business infrastructure, and Korea East-West Power will demonstrate hydrogen gas turbine based on Korean technology. SK Gas will establish infrastructure for hydrogen supply and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction will be in charge of developing and supplying hydrogen gas turbine technologies.
Each company that participated in the agreement will participate in a demonstration project to convert gas turbines in Ulsan Combined Thermal Power Plant, which has been in operation for more than 25 years, into 270MW hydrogen turbines by 2027.
"Based on these agreements, we plan to foster the hydrogen turbine business as the next new growth development industry." said Jeong Yeon-in, president of COO at Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. "It is more meaningful in that we can supply eco-friendly energy to the community."
Earlier on 2 June, Korea Midland Power Co., Ltd. signed an agreement to "achieve 2050 carbon neutral targets and activate hydrogen turbines in Korea".
Korea Midland Power Co., Ltd. plans to introduce hydrogen gas turbine technology that Doosan Heavy Industries is developing, and Doosan Heavy Industries plans to develop hydrogen gas turbine technology and secure related parts mass-production technology.
Power plants that use hydrogen as fuel have fewer pollutant emissions than conventional LNG gas complex plants. According to the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, 30% co-firing hydrogen can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10.4% compared to LNG power plants, and by 21.4% at 50% co-firing.
Hydrogen is drawing keen attention as one of the solutions for carbon neutrality, and major companies such as the U.S., Germany, and Japan are also actively commercializing hydrogen turbines in conjunction with each country's policies. The global hydrogen gas turbine market is expected to grow to $35 billion in 2030.
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction succeeded in developing its own large gas turbine model for power generation for the fifth time in the world in 2019. Since May last year, the company has been working with Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials to develop technology fastest in hydrogen turbine field, including "50% hydrogen co-firing eco-friendly combustor for 300MW high-efficiency hydrogen turbines."
