South Korea’s Ministry of Environment has announced that it has allocated 8.2 billion won ($5.9m) in subsidies to 152 hydrogen refuelling station operators to help cover the cost of purchasing H2.
The fuel purchase subsidy, which was originally introduced in 2021, is paid twice a year following a review of the income and costs associated with hydrogen refuelling stations during the previous six months.
On average, each company is set to receive payments amounting to 54 million won ($38,968) from today. The support is reportedly set to last until 2025, although this could be extended if South Korea’s hydrogen vehicle market continues to stagnate.
This latest subsidy allocation is likely to have been fuelled by an H2 supply crisis in November last year.
Following a breakdown of three grey hydrogen production facilities at Hyundai Steel, which supplies 20-30% of the H2 for transport in South Korea’s central region, three quarters of refuelling stations in the country were forced to temporarily shut down — leaving fuel-cell vehicle drivers with nowhere to fill up their tanks.
In January this year, only two fuel-cell passenger cars were sold across the entire country, although this increased to 331 in February as regional subsidy schemes were finalised.
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