South Korea’s Hanwha Energy Corp. said on Monday its board has approved a plan to diversify into fuel cell power plant business in cooperation with state-run Korea East-West Power Co.

Under the plan, the companies will build a 50 megawatt (㎿) fuel cell power plant powered by hydrogen in the Daesan industrial complex in the western part of Korea approximately 150 kilometers from Seoul.

The power plant that will enter construction in December will use byproduct hydrogen derived from a petrochemical process as a feedstock for power generation on electrochemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen that produces zero emissions of pollutants. When built, it could be the world’s first fuel cell power plant operated on byproduct hydrogen, according to the company. Most fuel cell power plants rely on liquefied natural gas as a fuel.

Initial commercial power production is scheduled for November 2019. About 80 percent of the total 255 billion won ($226 million) construction cost will be raised in the form of project financing.

Hanwha Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the power plant project in late 2016 with Korea East-West Power, Doosan Corporation and SK Securities Co. Hanwha Energy will hold a 49 percent stake in Daesan Green Energy Co., a special purpose entity established for the project. Korea East-West Power will run the power plant, while Doosan will be responsible for hydrogen fuel cell modules and maintenance services. The power plant can provide over 40MW of environmentally clean electricity under normal operations, enough power to serve about 80,000 households.

Following Hanwha Energy, SK Engineering & Construction Co. inked an MOU on a similar project in April with Korea Midland Power Co., shining a spotlight on fuel cell power generation on byproduct hydrogen.

By Lee Jae-cheol

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