South Korea has started the world's first auction to produce electricity using clean hydrogen
Industry newsThe government wants to make up to 6,500 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year for 15 years, starting by 2028. Companies can bid for 15-year contracts to produce electricity this way.
The deadline for bids is November 8. Companies need this time to make deals to buy hydrogen. The bids will be judged on price and how much greenhouse gas is emitted while making the clean hydrogen. Clean hydrogen with fewer emissions will get more points.
The auction prefers green hydrogen made from renewable energy over blue hydrogen made from fossil fuels with carbon capture. Some people criticize using ammonia with coal because it can be dirtier and more expensive than using renewable energy directly.
The government aims to produce 13 terawatt-hours of clean-hydrogen electricity by 2030, which equals about 750 megawatts of power. Both South Korea and Japan plan to import green hydrogen to achieve net-zero emissions because they lack enough land to produce the necessary electricity.
However, critics say that these countries are not fully using offshore wind or rooftop solar power. They argue that imported hydrogen would make electricity too expensive, hurting the competitiveness of their products.
Additionally, the South Korean government has started a third auction for general hydrogen power, using grey hydrogen from fossil fuels, for up to 1,300 gigawatt-hours per year, starting in 2026.