South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) has announced its plans to offer 1.4 TWh of power generation derived from hydrogen or hydrogen compounds for the 2026 bidding market (MCEE press release, 10/06/2026). Under the framework of its Hydrogen Economy Promotion and Hydrogen Safety Management Act, the country plans to bid 500 GWh/year for clean hydrogen power generation and 930 GWh/year for general hydrogen power generation on its 2026 hydrogen power generation bidding market. The bidding volumes for 2027 and beyond are expected to be announced each year.
The announcement represents a reduction on the hydrogen bidding volumes, from 1.3 TWh to 930 GWh for general hydrogen (mainly produced from LNG) and from 3 TWh to 500 GWh for clean hydrogen, to aligned with the country’s decarbonisation efforts and to account for the market’s realistic volume demand.
To prevent life extensions for coal assets, the ministry has excluded coal-ammonia co-firing from the clean category.This initiative supports South Korea's strategy to phase out coal power by 2040, with plans to generate 3 to 3.5 TWh of power annually from clean hydrogen by 2027.
According to Enerdata’s Global Energy Research, the South Korean government plans to transform the country into a hydrogen-based economy and is aiming for at least 6.2% clean hydrogen in the power mix by 2038.
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