Korea Zinc participated in ‘H2 MEET 2023’, Korea’s largest hydrogen industry exhibition held at KINTEX in Ilsan from September 13th to 15th.

Hydrogen is gaining global attention as the next-generation energy source, and various countries are actively pursuing the establishment of supply networks. In 2020, the EU announced its ‘The EU Hydrogen Strategy’, with a goal to produce 10 million tons of green hydrogen by 2030. Korea also unveiled its policy plan to foster the hydrogen industry last year, demonstrating its commitment to nurturing the domestic hydrogen industry to become a global leader.

‘H2 MEET’, which provided a comprehensive overview of the status of global hydrogen technology, boasted its largest participation scale ever with a total of 303 companies and institutions, including 88 foreign companies. Among them, we will explore the vibrant booth of Korea Zinc, where we can see the competitiveness of the hydrogen business!

The Korea Zinc exhibition hall was adorned with lush greenery and trees, giving an environmentally friendly ambiance, in particular, what captivated the attention of the visitors was the ‘Diorama’ located in the center. It visually emphasized the entire spectrum of projects, ranging from renewable energy production to the green hydrogen value chain. Korea Zinc’s hydrogen roadmap was presented in a way that made it easier for visitors to comprehend, with miniature representations of the actual processes involved in hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and utilization, drawing high attention throughout the exhibition period.

Through this exhibition booth, we detailed our history, starting with the construction and operation of Australia’s largest solar power plant in 2018 by our Australian subsidiary, SMC Smelter, and progressing to the establishment of Ark Energy Corporation, marking our substantial entry into the renewable energy sector.

Korea Zinc is widely recognized as a world-leading non-ferrous metal smelting company. Due to the nature of the smelting business, electricity demand is high and concerns over carbon emissions are growing, so we have been contemplating a transition to eco-friendly energy sources. As a result, we have taken significant steps towards decarbonization, including becoming the first company in the metal industry to join RE100. Moreover, one of the key advantages of the hydrogen produced by Korea Zinc is its compliance with the government’s clean hydrogen certification standards, making it ‘Grade 1 clean hydrogen’.

So, what will the sustainable future of Korea Zinc look like in 50 years? Korea Zinc has been actively pursuing renewable energy projects to address the dual challenges of increasingly stringent environmental regulations and enhancing business competitiveness. Furthermore, the company has established a vision to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through the production of ‘green metal’ using green hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources.

To achieve this vision, Korea Zinc has developed both short-term and long-term strategies and is currently executing various hydrogen projects. In the short term, there are plans to conduct small-scale demonstration projects domestically and internationally that encompass the production nd utilization of green hydrogen. Ark Energy is currently undertaking the SunHQ Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project to convert diesel trucks operated by Townsville Logistics, another logistics subsidiary in Australia, into hydrogen trucks, and build water electrolyzer (1MW PEM) and hydrogen refueling station facilities for the production of green hydrogen.

In the long term, we aim to enhance domestic energy security and contribute to the activation of the hydrogen economy by importing green hydrogen and green ammonia produced in Australia to Korea. Starting in the first half of next year, we will be actively engaged in green hydrogen production in Australia, marking a significant milestone as the ‘first overseas green hydrogen production by a domestic (Korean) company’. Korea Zinc, in collaboration with Hanwha Impact and SK Gas, has formed the Korea-Australia Hydrogen (Han-Ho H2) Consortium. Together, we are considering the establishment of a supply network to export over one million tons of green ammonia annually from Australia to Korea by 2030.

During the opening ceremony on the first day, Nam-hoon Kang, Chairman of the H2 MEET Organizing Committee and President of the Korea Automotive Mobility Industry Association, stated, “This exhibition aims to showcase the latest technological trends across the entire hydrogen ecosystem and provide a platform to witness the society’s transition towards an eco-friendly paradigm. Through this event, we will extend our utmost support to facilitate global exchange and cooperation for the advancement and leap forward of the hydrogen industry.”

As part of the ‘KZ Green EVENT’ initiative, Korea Zinc conducted the ‘Challenge! KZ Well-Informed Quiz’ at one corner of their booth. Visitors enthusiastically participated in solving quizzes related to Korea Zinc’s ongoing hydrogen projects, and those who answered correctly were rewarded with eco-friendly plant-growing kits. This engagement helped enhance the overall immersion in the exhibition.

Korea Zinc, which is taking the lead in eco-friendly smelting with constant innovation and differentiated technology, will accelerate sustainable management for the next 50 years with the ‘Three major new businesses for Troika Drive’ centered on the future growth engine △ renewable energy and green hydrogen △ secondary battery materials △ resource circulation through recycling.