InterContinental Energy is looking to forge deeper ties with South Korea for clean energy technology, finance, and trade, following Korea Electric Power Corporation’s (KEPCO) agreement to advance the renewable hydrogen developer’s top Australian project, an InterContinental executive said Sept. 10.

InterContinental’s 50-GW Western Green Energy Hub (WGEH) in southeast of Western Australia, and KEPCO, South Korea’s largest energy utility, signed an agreement this month to conduct feasibility studies for stage one of the renewable hydrogen/ammonia project.

“What we’re trying to do is bring the whole Korean ecosystem early on, in the understanding of this project so that we can partner with them on more than just a customer-supplier relationship,” InterContinental Energy’s Head of Australia, Isaac Hinton told S&P Global Commodity Insights.

“So, we work with KEPCO and other South Korean organizations on everything (starting) from the technology that they have in terms of wind, solar, electrolyzers and ammonia,” Hinton said ahead of the Sept. 12-13 Asia Pacific Hydrogen 2024 Summit and Exhibition in Brisbane.

InterContinental Energy will also look at how to partner with South Korean entities in the early stages of the project on financing, engineering, and construction, and build on existing expertise, according to Hinton.

InterContinental Energy is developing WGEH, the largest renewable hydrogen/ammonia project in Australia, along with CWP Global and traditional partner-owners Mirning Green Energy.

According to the company’s website, at full scale, WGEH has the potential to produce up to 3.5 million metric tons per year of renewable hydrogen, for domestic and international customers, including South Korea.

Co-firing demand emerges

Hinton said Japan and South Korea are prepared for renewable/low carbon ammonia and hydrogen to form more of their energy mix as power plants start to co-fire low-carbon ammonia in test cases.

South Korea launched an auction this year for clean hydrogen fired power generation for up to 6,500 GW of electricity produced per year over a 15-year period, starting by 2028.

Meanwhile, in Japan, JERA completed a 20% ammonia cofiring test at its 1-GW coal-fired unit at Hekinan thermal power plant in June, marking the world’s first co-firing of ammonia in such a plant.

“It is likely that they are going to roll that out to their fleet and increase that share,” Hinton said. “Green ammonia is going to be our main focus here in the early 2030s.”

With this gradual emerging demand, InterContinental Energy has adopted a modular approach for its projects so that they can be built in stages and be repeatable over time, Hinton said.

For instance, the first phase of InterContinental’s other project, the 26-GW Australian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) in Pilbara, where BP is the operator, is likely to supply renewable electricity to mining customers in Pilbara which accounts for 41% of Western Australia’s emissions, he added.

“The next phase would be more wind than solar (feeding) into electrolyzers for ammonia or iron (sectors) and the next phase after, that something similar again,” he said. “Possibly in 10 or 15 years when another phase is being built, it could be adapted for SAF or methanol.”