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Hydrogen is attracting the most attention as an energy source to replace fossil fuels.



As a global trend, Korea is also concentrating on this field, and environmental reporter Jang Se-man pointed out how far our technology has come and what remains to be done.



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This is a hydrogen turbine facility that KEPCO started researching last year.



Since coal and gas power generation are considered the main culprits of carbon generation, we are researching ways to use hydrogen as an energy source.



[Lee Jong-min / KEPCO Electric Power Research Institute Chief: When hydrogen is burned, only water is emitted or CO2 (carbon dioxide) is not emitted (called carbon-free fuel.)]



Companies are also increasing the use of hydrogen.



Hyundai Motor started mass production of hydrogen electric trucks following passenger cars and SUVs, and POSCO is also planning to use hydrogen instead of coal in the steelmaking process from 2050.



Only 3.5 million tons of hydrogen needed for POSCO annually, and the electricity needed to extract hydrogen is enough to run around 20 nuclear power plants.



As hydrogen demand increases, SK E&S plans to extract and sell clean hydrogen from Australian natural gas from 2025.



[Hyungwook Choo/CEO of SK E&S: We plan to produce 250,000 tons of clean blue hydrogen by 2025 using carbon capture and storage technology.]



The problem is carbon dioxide from hydrogen extraction, and the company plans to liquefy it, load it on a special vessel, and send it back to Australia to be buried in a waste gas field.



Why would you spend so much money to bring carbon dioxide back to Australia and ask?



If carbon dioxide is not separated and treated, it is evaluated that the hydrogen produced at the most is comparable to fossil fuels, so it is classified as so-called 'gray hydrogen'.



However, when it comes to making clean hydrogen, there is no place to bury it in Korea.



Who will bear these additional costs?

Let's hear it.



[Seung-Hoon Yoo / Professor, Seoul National University of Science and Technology: Companies need to invest a lot in industrial processes.

In the end, the price of electricity or products used in daily life increases (this becomes a method)] It



is a story that goes through the company and eventually returns to the consumer.



Other companies such as LG, Hanwha, and Hyosung are also rushing to produce hydrogen, but they are still in their infancy.



The government plans to invest 1.9 trillion won in R&D in the carbon-neutral field this year.



Securing economical hydrogen production technology is the first step towards carbon neutrality.



(Video coverage: Hong Jong-su, Kim Min-cheol, video editing: Yoon Tae-ho)