This week’s news that Asia is leading the world in opening new hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) confirms what the FIBA Technologies hydrogen team has long known. Asia, and in particular South Korea, has been a central plank of FIBA’s growth into the hydrogen sector for some time. FIBA supplies hydrogen pressure vessels to a number of Asia Pacific countries, but South Korea is where we are currently seeing the greatest demand.
South Korea has been clear about its ambitions to have a major hydrogen infrastructure and FIBA is a long-term partner in the movement. The country added more HRSs to its infrastructure in 2022 than any other country.
Now, the annual report on the global HRS market, from trusted consultancy Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST), shows that of the 130 HRSs that opened for operation worldwide in 2022 an impressive 73 were in Asia.
In North America it is reported that 11 new HRSs opened, with Europe seeing 45 enter operation. A full 70 of the 89 HRSs now up and running in the US are in California.
The impressive rate of openings in Asia brings the total number of HRSs in the region up to 455. While Japan has the most (165), South Korea is a close second with 149. China now has a total of 138 HRSs.
Globally, there are now 814 HRSs in full operation.
See here for full details of the LBST report: https://www.tuvsud.com/en/press-and-media/2023/february/another-record-addition-of-european-hydrogen-refuelling-stations-in-2022
Those monitoring the investments being allocated to various country’s H2 efforts will have noted the prominent place that South Korea plays in the report from Macquarie investment bank here https://www.macquarie.com/au/en/perspectives/a-clean-start-south-korea-embraces-its-hydrogen-future.html
So active is South Korea in the acquisition of hydrogen pressure vessels and that it is acknowledged as a nation with the ambition and ability to become a global leader in hydrogen projects. It should be noted that South Korea is widely reported as having plans to source more than 30% of its total energy from hydrogen sources.
FIBA’s relationships with customers in South Korea, and elsewhere in Asia, remains very positive. This not only based on the sales of hydrogen pressure vessels, but also on the year-on-year growth of activity at FIBA’s Taiwan site.