SEOUL – South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries group will branch into all areas of hydrogen, from production to storage and sales, converting some gas stations to filling stations for vehicles running on its carbon-free fuel.
Hydrogen-related businesses will play a key role in a long-term strategy through 2030 under a plan announced Thursday.
This marks a new move towards clean energy for one of Asia ‘s largest industrial groups, oil – fueled.
“To ensure we drive future growth, we are bringing together the organisation’s state-of-the-art technologies and infrastructure to focus on the field,” a spokesperson said.
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, a major unit with one of the world’s largest market segments in shipbuilding, will develop vessels with hydrogen fuel as well as hydrogen transport tankers. It will also build offshore plants for fuel.
Another subsidiary, Hyundai Oilbank, will convert 180 of its 2,700 gasoline stations in South Korea to hydrogen-filled sites.
Hyundai Heavy’s main shipbuilding activity has slowly gained traction as Chinese competitors capitalize. Seeking an industry with a higher margin for new growth is likely to be an early leader in the emerging field of hydrogen.
The organization is not alone in pushing for fuel capacity. South Korea’s SK Group, the country’s third-largest conglomerate, has said it will invest 18 trillion won ($ 16 billion) over the next five years to develop the domestic hydrogen energy industry.
Group work also includes construction machinery, power generation facilities and petrochemical products.