Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) Initiative

There are many different types of energy sources in the world. Some examples include natural gas (CH4) in the stove in your home kitchen, coal to heat a steam boiler in a thermal (coal) power plant, electricity from nuclear and renewable sources (solar, wind), and hydrogen, which is turned into water and power when reacted on a platinum catalyst.

Recently, the U.S. and EU have emphasized renewables such as solar and wind, which can generate power without emitting carbon. In the case of nuclear power, they have said that they will include it as green energy if they have a high-level nuclear repository or plan to build one, and they have started demanding that exports to their countries pay for the CO2 they emit when they are manufactured.

These US and EU policies are an embarrassment to an export-oriented country like our, South Korea. In addition to the energy we use directly to make our products (Scope 1) and the power we buy from power plants (Scope 2), we now have to manage the CO2 from the production, transportation, disposal, and consumption of our products by our buyers.

In fact, the EU plans to start paying for carbon emissions from steel products in 2026. This is the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Since 40% of our CO2 emissions come from the steel industry, our industry is very nervous about the EU's actions. The US is set to introduce a similar system to the EU's CBAM, making the road even tougher. Leading companies such as Google, Apple, and BMW are subcontracting smartphone and electric vehicle components to Korean companies and demanding that 100% of their electricity needs be met by renewable energy.

Reducing carbon in the production of products is necessary, but the US and EU are using carbon as a trade barrier. While South Korea is working to expand renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, we cannot overlook nuclear power plants, which account for about 30% of our electricity generation, or hydrogen, which we are focusing on as a future energy source. In addition, the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which is expected to receive preliminary feasibility results later this year, will usher in an era of clean hydrogen.

That's why South Korea launched the Carbon Free Energy (CFE) initiative last year to raise its voice internationally. While RE100 focuses on renewable energy, CFE recognizes the use of all carbon-free energy, including renewable energy, nuclear power, hydrogen, etc.

The Korean government has appointed Dr. Hoesung Lee, former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as the chairman of the CFE, and is calling on countries around the world to join the CFE.

 

CFE Summit at the 2024 Climate Industry International Expo at BEXCO in Busan, South Korea.

At the 2024 Climate International Expo, held on September 4, South Korea put the spotlight on carbon-free energy. Prime Minister Han Deok-soo announced plans to expand the share of carbon-free energy from 40 percent in 2024 to 70 percent in 2038, enacting a special law to expand the national grid and doing its best to research and develop key technologies and foster human resources.

SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won, who also serves as chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, proposed that South Korea's energy system and infrastructure be strengthened to support a carbon-free energy era by expanding distributed power sources, which include solar, wind, fuel cells, small modular reactors (SMRs), and collective energy. The CFE's efforts are yielding notable results.

For starters, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a statement on September 3 supporting South Korea's carbon-free energy initiative.  Director-General Fatih Birol explained that the agency supports Korea's CFE because it is essential to mobilize all technologies and energy sources, including nuclear power, clean hydrogen, and carbon capture, storage, and utilization (CCUS) technologies, to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.

Choi Nam-ho, Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, expressed his hope that the joint declaration on carbon-free energy between South Korea and the IEA will accelerate the global spread of CFE and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. South Korea will launch a 'global working group' composed of public and private experts from major countries to discuss the implementation standards for carbon-free energy at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Brazil in October this year.

The CFE Summit at the 2024 Climate Industry International Expo showcased various technologies and equipment for realizing carbon-free energy.

Hansuwon, which is developing an innovative SMR with the goal of completing a standardized design in 2025, displayed a detailed model that looks like the real thing. POSCO presented nuclear power plants, hydrogen turbines, and renewable energy as power sources, saying that its hydrogen reduction steel technology, called Hyrex, can be secured by 2030. Q CELLS displayed its photovoltaic modules, while LG and Hyundai Electric displayed high-efficiency devices. Doosan Energy also unveiled a hydrogen turbine that uses a special coating on the turbine blades of an existing gas turbine and attaches a combustor that matches the ignition characteristics of hydrogen.

 

                          SMR model (left), POSCO Hyrex (center), and Q CELLS booth (right)

We were not the only companies to participate in the 2024 Climate Industry International Fair. RWE Renewables, a 125-year-old German company, was represented by its Head of Asia Pacific, who personally visited Korea to promote its offshore wind business and encourage Korea to develop it as an export strategic industry. It will be interesting to see if the carbon-free energy initiative based on our reality will be realistic and sustainable and become a solution to the challenge of carbon neutrality.

 

Source: Energy Information and Culture Foundation, Sept. 13, 2024