The government is pushing for the 'establishment of a clean hydrogen eco-system' as a national policy task. This action aligns with President Lee Jae-myung's energy policy focus on 'expanding renewable energy.' The intention is to use hydrogen as a long-term energy storage device to complement the intermittency issues of renewable energy production, which varies with the weather.
According to a report by ChosunBiz on the 8th, the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning has adopted 'establishing a clean hydrogen eco-system' as a detailed task for 'new growth drivers in the institutional sector of energy.'
A senior official from the Committee stated, 'Upon reviewing former President Yoon Suk-yeol's energy policy, it became evident that there was a focus exclusively on nuclear power generation, while areas like renewable energy, including clean hydrogen, were neglected.' He explained, 'In contrast, the Lee Jae-myung administration has established a direction to 'nurture the clean hydrogen business.'
President Lee Jae-myung has consistently declared during the campaigning period that he would expand renewable energy. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also reported to the Committee in June that it plans to invest about 4 trillion won in renewable energy projects over the next five years.
To address the weaknesses of renewable energy, which is vulnerable to weather changes, the government plans to utilize clean hydrogen as a long-term energy storage solution. Currently, short-term energy storage systems (ESS) are complementing the flexibility of renewable energy, as they have the capability to store electricity generated during favorable weather conditions and release it when demand is lacking.
A government official said, 'ESS captures electricity generated from solar power and supplies it when solar generation is down, but it can only respond for about a day.' He noted, 'Hydrogen can be stored for longer, whether in liquid or gas form.' He added, 'The (task adopted by the Committee) signifies a commitment to support clean hydrogen production, an area with virtually no government policy so far.'
The Committee is reported to have included detailed tasks such as supporting training and research and development (R&D) across the entire lifecycle of clean hydrogen, including production, distribution, and utilization of green hydrogen.
Additionally, the clean hydrogen-related tasks have been confirmed to be included alongside President Lee Jae-myung's signature pledge, the 'energy highway' policy.
While the energy highway serves as the 'hardware' that transmits large-scale power centered around renewable energy to national demand areas, clean hydrogen is expected to function as a 'system' that stores residual energy.
A senior official from the Committee stated, 'We are in a situation where we need to create industries capable of functioning as energy storage devices on the energy highway,' adding, 'We see clean hydrogen as significant as a storage device for excess electricity and plan to proceed with relevant system adjustments.'
The Committee is expected to announce the confirmed national policy tasks around the 13th.