South Korea unveils 80 per cent subsidy for domestic fuel cells

The Asian fuel cell sector recieved a major boost yesterday when the South Korean government announced that it will offer households a subsidy to cover 80 per cent of the cost of domestic hydrogen fuel cells.

Starting in 2010, the government will provide an 80 per cent subsidy to cover the cost of purchasing and installing fuel cells in homes. The size of the subsidy will fall to 50 per cent between 2013 and 2016, and then drop to 30 per cent from 2017 to 2020.

The expense of buying and installing a hydrogen fuel cell for domestic use is currently about US$40,000. The government hopes that the subsidy – intended to lead to greater sales and increased economies of scale for manufacturers – will help reduce the price of systems to $8,000 by 2015, and just $4,000 by 2018.

"Starting next year we hope to receive requests from 100 to 200 households to install hydrogen fuel cells and to expand that number to 1,000 every year from 2013," an unnamed official at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy told the JoongAng Daily newspaper.

The subsidy will most likely benefit South Korean companies, such as FuelCellPower and GS Fuel Cell, which have emerged as specialists in domestic fuel cells capable of replacing traditional boilers and producing zero carbon heat and electricity for a building.

The move is the latest initiative in the government's long-term roadmap to create a "Hydrogen Economy", which was announced in 2005 and has seen around $500 million commited towards hydrogen and fuel cell R&D between 2004 to 2012.

The measure is partly aimed at boosting the country's energy security, as it currently imports about 97 per cent of its energy sources. It is also aimed at helping South Korea to become a global leader in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

In May, the government also announced it would spend $10bn over the next f ive years to develop green technologies such as fuel cells, high-efficiency solar cells, LPG hybrid cars, LEDs and smart grid networks.

In related news, the government's presidential committee on green growth yesterday said that it was studying the feasibility of plans to build a 100MW wind farm on the country's west coast at an estimated cost of $322m.

The proposed project, which the committee hopes to build by 2014, would generate enough power for a projected 33,300 households.