Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has initiated the development of fuel cell for power generation, the first of its kind in Korea

- A 300kW-class model to be commercialized in 2012

- Jointly with KIST and Korea Midland Power

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (President and CEO: Nam-Doo Lee) recently announced that it has initiated the development of fuel cell for power generation, the first of its kind in Korea.

On October 8, Doosan announced its selection by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy as the main contractor for the national project to develop a 300kW-class power generation fuel cell. The total budget for the project is US$ 55.6 million. This project is in collaboration with the Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), and Korea Midland Power.

Delegates of the participants held a kick-off meeting at the Riviera Hotel in Daejeon, with the attendance of Sung-Ho Lee in the Korea Energy Management Corp., Sung-An Hong, Director National RD&D Organization for Hydrogen & Fuel Cell , and Dr. C.J. Yoon, CTO and Executive Vice President of Doosan.

Doosan plans to build research facilities necessary for developing the fuel cell on the company's 1.1-acre laboratory area by the first half of 2008. It will then complete the development of the fuel cell system by 2010. Also, Doosan aims to commercialize the system in the domestic and foreign market by 2012. From 2015, the company has plans to release various types of the product, including a large scale system for combined cycle power plants.

A fuel cell for power generation is a unit designed to utilize the electric energy created in the chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen. It will be welcomed as one of a promising alternative energy source capable of replacing fossil fuels, which will yield advantages such as high power generation efficiency and the non-emission of pollutants. However, its development requires highly sophisticated technology. FCE (Fuel Cell Energy) of the United States is the only company that has succeeded in commercializing the power generating fuel cell, although MTU in Germany is expected to introduce its own product some time in 2008. Korea does not have its own product model yet.

The global power generation fuel cell market is expected to grow very rapidly, particularly in the U.S., to about US$17.3 billion by 2022. As for the domestic market, it is also expected to grow - following the product commercialization in 2013 - by an annual average of 19.4 percent, and is expected to reach US$ 1.5 billion by 2022.

The power generating fuel cell to be developed by Doosan is a type of a Direct Internal Reforming Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell, of which its core technology is the power generating stack. Doosan plans to develop all of the major components, including the stack and the BOP (Balance of Plant) on its own. Last April, Doosan became the nation's first company to succeed in developing a 25kW-class fuel cell stack.

Dr. C.J. Yoon, CTO of Doosan said, "The future energy depends on the proprietary technology rather than natural resources we have. By successfully gaining total technological independence in preparation for the hydrogen economy, we will target the global fuel cell market with our own product model."

The government has selected fuel cells (i.e. those for transportation and portable ones as well as those for power generation) as one of the ten core technologies for the future and is giving its full support to the organizations related to fuel cell researches.