Sejong, November 21 - The Ministry of Environment (ME, Minister Han Wha-jin) will subsidize a portion of fuel costs for 93 hydrogen fueling stations with a financial deficit in the first half of 2022. The financial assistance is to improve conditions for operating the hydrogen fueling stations at the initial stage and encourage businesses to participate in the project for installing hydrogen fueling stations. From August 3 to September 20, the Korea Automobile Environmental Association publicly invited the operators of hydrogen fueling stations with a financial deficit in the first half of 2022 to the government subsidy program. The Ministry of Environment verified the s on fuel import and other expenses submitted by 100 hydrogen refueling station operators by hiring professional accountants. The ministry selected 93 beneficiaries and decided to subsidize an average of KRW 30.13 million (a total of KRW 2.8 billion). Finally, the ministry notified each hydrogen refueling station operator of the results on November 11. 

The government launched its subsidy scheme for hydrogen fueling stations to purchase hydrogen fuel in 2021 to encourage the private sector to participate in the project to establish hydrogen fueling stations, which is essential to distribute more fuel cell vehicles. The government initially provided subsidies once a year to the hydrogen fueling stations that operated for 12 months of the year. Now, the government has expanded the target and increased the number of times. It provides subsidies twice a year to the fueling stations that were operational for a month during a half year.

The hydrogen fueling stations operational from January 2022 to June 2022 applied for the subsidy. It was found that each hydrogen fueling station was operated under different circumstances. Among the 93 hydrogen fueling stations, 38 were hydrogen-only, and the other 55 were combinations of hydrogen, LPG, or CNG stations. The average amount of deficit for these beneficiaries is KRW 48.9 million. The combined fueling stations have a lower deficit amount than the hydrogen-only fueling stations, having an average deficit of KRW 41.57 million and KRW 59.52 million, respectively. On average, the deficit of combined-type hydrogen charging stations was lower than that of the exclusive hydrogen charging stations.

The Ministry of Environment will continue subsidizing fuel costs for hydrogen fueling stations with a financial deficit in 2023. The ministry will improve the subsidization criteria based on this year's results so that hydrogen fueling station operators can actually be benefitted. 

Park Yeon-jae, Director-General of the Air Quality Policy Bureau, said, "The Ministry of Environment is expecting that the subsidy scheme for fuel costs will boost the business of hydrogen fueling stations." He added, "The Ministry of Environment will take feedback from the business to enhance the effectiveness of the subsidy scheme."

Contact: Lee Se-ho, Deputy Director

Air Quality Future Strategy Division / +82-(0)44-201-6884

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr