Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE, Minister Ahn Duk-geun) announced the opening of the 2025 hydrogen power bidding market.

The hydrogen power bidding market is a system for purchasing and supplying electricity generated using hydrogen or hydrogen compounds as fuel. It consists of two categories—clean hydrogen power or general hydrogen power—depending on the fuel used. Only power facilities using fuels that meet Korea’s clean hydrogen certification standard of no more than 4 kg CO₂e per 1 kg of hydrogen are eligible to participate in the clean hydrogen power bidding market.

The clean hydrogen power bidding market is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by expanding power generation using carbon-free clean hydrogen. For 2025, the bidding volume is set at 3,000 GWh/year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 850,000 households, with a contract period of 15 years. Power generation must begin by 2029, following a three-year preparation period, with a one-year grace period in consideration of the program’s initial phase. Final bidders will be selected around November through a comprehensive evaluation of both pricing and non-pricing factors, including bid price, clean hydrogen grade, fuel supply stability, and industrial and economic contribution.

Notably, the 2025 clean hydrogen power bidding market will introduce two new mechanisms long requested by the industry: an exchange rate-linked settlement system and a hydrogen volume borrowing system. Until now, settlements were made at fixed prices in Korean won, with project developers bearing the risk of won-dollar exchange rate fluctuations. Starting in 2025, however, power prices will be linked to the exchange rate at the time of settlement, helping reduce business risks stemming from currency fluctuations.

In addition to the existing hydrogen volume carryover system, which allows unused hydrogen volumes to be carried over to the following year, the market will also introduce a new borrowing system, enabling operators to use part of the following year’s allocated hydrogen volume in advance. This improvement is expected to give operators greater flexibility when scheduled maintenance and similar factors make it harder to meet contracted generation volumes.

The bid announcement and more detailed information will be available on the hydrogen power bidding market website of Korea Power Exchange (kchps.kmos.kr) starting at 5:00 p.m. on May 9 (KST).