Three of Korea’s largest conglomerate groups, Korea Zinc, Hanwha Impact and SK Gas, and Australian based Ark Energy have formed the Hanguk-Hoju (Korea-Australia) Hydrogen (Han-Ho H2) consortium and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a supply chain to export more than 1 million tonnes of green ammonia per annum from Australia to the Republic of Korea by 2032.

The MoU was signed at Queensland Government headquarters in Brisbane and witnessed by The Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, Premier of Queensland and Minister for the Olympics.

Premier Palaszczuk said her Government has worked to ensure major consortiums like Han-Ho H2 are welcomed through a supportive policy and regulatory regime. “Today, we welcome the Han-Ho H2 consortium to Queensland to accelerate progress in our renewable hydrogen industry and advance green energy exports to Korea,” the Premier said.

Korea is already the third largest importer of ammonia in the world. Based on ammonia’s characteristics to act as a hydrogen carrier combined with the Korean Government’s recent commitments to co-fire green ammonia as a carbon-free fuel in the country’s coal and gas-fired generators, the Korea Institute of Energy Research estimates Korea’s total ammonia demand will exceed 21 million tonnes per annum beyond 2030.

Ark Energy will lead the consortium and leverage its experience building the domestic hydrogen economy of North Queensland through its SunHQ H2 Hub, which is focused on diesel fuel replacement through hydrogen commercial mobility. Ark Energy will also leverage its renewable energy portfolio including the Collinsville Green Energy Hub south-west of Bowen, which will have a potential generation capacity of up to 3,000MW.

Ark Energy CEO, Daniel Kim, said strategic partnerships will be essential to building a new green ammonia supply chain from Australia to Korea, the scale of which does not currently exist. “Together with our parent company, Korea Zinc, we carefully selected Hanwha Impact and SK Gas as potential partners and we are delighted that they have decided to join our consortium. Our partners and our parent company are major players in Korea’s hydrogen economy and have a forecast demand for more than 2 million tonnes of green ammonia per annum from 2030,” said Mr Kim.