Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction pushes ahead with hydrogen gas turbine development

South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC) is accelerating the development of environmentally friendly gas turbines that run on hydrogen. DHIC announced June 3 that it has signed an agreement with three partners to promote hydrogen turbine demonstration plants. In addition to Doosan, the parties are the Ulsan Municipal Government, Korea East-West Power and SK Gas. They will work together on a project to convert existing gas turbines at the Ulsan Combined Thermal Power Plant into hydrogen-fueled turbines.

The conversion and operation will require increased importation of relevant components and machinery, which may generally fall under the certification requirement for KC Mark certification or KC EMC certification in Korea. When completed, the plant will have a capacity of 270 MW, with commissioning planned for 2027. The gas turbines in Ulsan have been in operation for more than 25 years. The planned project is considered the first of its kind in Korea.

A day earlier, on June 2, DHIC signed an agreement with Korea Midland Power. Content of the agreement is the support of Korea Midland Power’s climate goals to be CO2 neutral by 2050 as well as to build up a domestic industry for hydrogen gas turbines. Korea Midland Power would like to use DHIC’s hybrid burner systems and hydrogen gas turbines, which the company has developed with the help of the government. In return, DHIC will develop the relevant technology for the turbines and prepare for series production of the parts.

Power plants that use hydrogen as fuel emit fewer pollutants than conventional plants that run on natural gas. The Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials calculated that if 30 percent of all power plants currently fueled by natural gas used hydrogen, CO2 emissions could be reduced by 10.4 percent. The institute also pointed out that no CO₂ is produced when hydrogen is burned. Industry experts predict the hydrogen gas turbine market will grow to as much as $35 billion by 2030.

DHIC has become the fifth company in the world to develop its own large-scale gas turbine power generation plants since 2019. It has also been working on hydrogen gas turbines since May 2020. The company participated in a nationwide project with the Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials to develop a high-efficiency hydrogen hybrid gas burner for power plants. Hybrid in this case stands for the use of different gases as fuel for the gas turbines or power plants.

South Korea is considered one of the most important and innovative industrial nations in the world. In order to gain market access to this highly technological country, products imported into South Korea must be tested and certified. The KC mark or KC certificate is roughly equivalent to the European CE mark and applies to 730 different products. MPR International GmbH has solid experience in Korea certification and competent local partners. We gladly advise you without obligation about the scope and procedure of a Korea certification.

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Verena Numssen

About the author: Verena Numssen is managing director of MPR International GmbH

Publisher: MPR International GmbH

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