SK E&S hydrogen project stalls over land acquisition issues

[Courtesy of SK E&S Co.]

SK E&S Co.’s hydrogen infrastructure project, which consists of building a hydrogen fuel cell plant and a water electrolysis facility by the end of 2024, has stalled due to the delay in land acquisition.

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter on Monday, SK E&S has yet to secure a site for its planned facilities in Incheon High Tech Park, a high-tech industrial complex in Cheongna International City, Incheon. The project costs an estimated 1 trillion won ($726 million).

The site, owned by the Korea Land and Housing Corp, was initially solely for foreign investment companies. However, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority repurposed the site for broader use in 2021 to attract Korean tech firms.

SK E&S submitted a proposal to the authority in 2022, to build a three-story plant and research center, known as Giga Factory & R&D Center, on a site of 83,307 square meters, with a total building area of 43,298 square meters. But the construction of these facilities has been delayed as the company has been unable to secure the land over the past two years.

The Giga Factory is a pivotal project for SK E&S which began with the launch of SK Plug Hyverse, a joint venture with US hydrogen technology company Plug Power Inc., in 2021. The two companies committed to invest 510 billion won and 490 billion won respectively in building infrastructure to complete the hydrogen ecosystem value chain.