Colombia, South Korea forging hydrogen ties

South Korea could become a key export market for Colombian clean hydrogen amid plans to ramp up investment in the nascent sector, according to a Bogotá-based industry group. 

The forecast comes as a Colombian delegation of private and public sector stakeholders participate this week in the H2 Meet 2023 hydrogen conference in the South Korean city of Goyang. 

“We lead, together with [investment agency] ProColombia, the dialogues between Colombian and Korean companies to identify opportunities for cooperation in the deployment of hydrogen and strengthening capabilities around innovation," Colombian hydrogen chamber director Karen Peralta said in comments published on social media.  

"In this event, we present Colombia's potential to produce hydrogen at competitive costs."

Among Colombian companies represented at the event are state-run oil company Ecopetrol, renewable energy developer FEM Energía, multi-utility EPM and AES Colombia.

Colombia's mines and energy ministry published its long-term blueprint for clean hydrogen in 2021, outlining plans for up to 3GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030 and envisaging wide-scale adoption of fuel-cell vehicles.

In addition to citing the vast potential for green hydrogen production from renewables - via water electrolysis - the roadmap sets a target of 50,000t of blue hydrogen capacity derived from natural gas over the same period. 

Investments in the segment are seen ranging from US$2.5bn to US$5.5bn, while 10,000-15,000 jobs are expected to be created.