State-owned Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) has selected DNV to assess the viability of blending hydrogen into the nation’s 5,000-km high-pressure gas transmission network. The 2-year project will assess the network’s suitability for hydrogen blending, provide technical and advisory support to KOGAS’s hydrogen blending test project on Jeju Island, and support KOGAS in addressing the requirements of South Korea’s regulatory authorities in overseeing hydrogen’s integration and uptake.
Work will include assessing and demonstrating the viability and impact of blending hydrogen with natural gas at various ratios in KOGAS’s transmission system, advising on the options, and building and operating hydrogen injection sites. It will also review methods for controlling the concentration of hydrogen blending, provide on-site technical support and data analysis for the hydrogen demonstration project, and support KOGAS in addressing the requirements of the energy regulator through the application of knowledge gained by DNV in related projects internationally.
DNV says it is working globally with an increasing number of gas pipeline companies to safely repurpose gas transmission and distribution networks for the integration of blended and 100% hydrogen gas and emphasized South Korea’s role as the world’s largest LNG importer as making it an ideal subject for this work. DNV’s Spadeadam research center in the UK also is conducting full-scale testing on the safe transportation of hydrogen in gas networks through to the appliances in homes.
Using the LNG it imports, natural gas is responsible for around 26% of South Korea’s power generation capacity, a share expected to grow to 31% by 2050 as coal and nuclear plants are phased out in accordance with South Korea’s 2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy and 9th Electricity Plan. DNV’s 2022 Energy Transition Outlook forecast that hydrogen production for energy purposes will meet 9% of Asia Pacific energy demand by 2050.
South Korea adopted a Hydrogen Economy Roadmap in 2019 and established a Hydrogen Economy Commission in 2021 to oversee the development of a full-fledged hydrogen economy to decarbonize transport, power generation, and industry while also driving economic growth and global industrial competitiveness. KOGAS is planning to invest $37 billion internationally to establish renewable power generation that will produce hydrogen which will be imported, stored, and transported through a specialized hydrogen pipeline network. The country has the third-largest public investment in hydrogen after Germany and Japan, according to DNV.