SK Group to invest US$16b by 2025 in hydrogen energy

[SEOUL] South Korean conglomerate SK Group said on Tuesday it plans to invest US$16.5 billion over the next five years to establish a domestic hydrogen energy industry.

As part of the plan, energy company SK E&S will invest about 5.3 trillion won (S$4.4 billion) by 2025 to complete the world's largest clean hydrogen production base in South Korea, parent SK Holdings said.

The facility plans to produce 250,000 tonnes of eco-friendly hydrogen annually from liquefied natural gas (LNG) while removing carbon dioxide, SK Holdings said in a statement.

The announcement comes after South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, last year outlined a "Green New Deal" as part of efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and cut its heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

A spokeswoman for SK Group, South Korea's third-largest conglomerate after Samsung and Hyundai Motor groups, declined to give a detailed breakdown of the investment beside the planned hydrogen production base.

South Korea, which recently joined a slew of European countries setting net zero targets for carbon emissions by the middle of the century, announced in 2019 a plan to produce 6.2 million hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2040 and set up 1,200 hydrogen fueling stations.

REUTERS