Korea opens 2026 hydrogen power bidding market with clean hydrogen quota cut to 500GWh

South Korea's environment ministry on Friday opened the 2026 hydrogen power bidding market, offering 500GWh a year of clean hydrogen generation and 930GWh a year of general hydrogen, as it overhauls how projects are scored and narrows the support available to coal-ammonia co-firing.

The clean hydrogen auction awards 15-year contracts and requires winning projects to begin generating by 2030 after a three-year preparation period. The ministry is allowing a deferral of up to three years on penalties for project delays, citing the construction time needed for hydrogen co-firing and dedicated hydrogen plants.

The clean hydrogen quota is a sixth of last year's 3,000GWh a year.

Only plants burning fuel that meets Korea's clean hydrogen certification standard — greenhouse gas emissions of 4 kilograms of CO2 equivalent or less per kilogram of hydrogen — may enter the clean hydrogen market, which is aimed at cutting emissions by running generators on a carbon-free fuel.

From this year, coal-ammonia co-firing is excluded from clean hydrogen support, in line with the government's policy of phasing out coal generation by 2040. The ministry also added a first-round screening that selects 1.5 times the required number of bidders on non-price criteria alone, and raised the weight of non-price factors from 40 percent to 50 percent, leaving price at 50 percent. Industrial and economic contribution and greenhouse gas reduction count among those non-price measures. Preferred bidders will be chosen around June 2027, with bids due May 28, 2027.

The general hydrogen market, which seeks to encourage distributed generation, offers 20-year contracts and requires output to start by 2029 after a two-year preparation period. Its environmental criteria have been tightened with a new assessment item covering plans to capture, use and store carbon dioxide. Preferred bidders there will be named around December, with bids due Dec. 4.

The tender notices were posted at 7 p.m. on Friday on the Power Exchange's integrated low-carbon contract platform, where the auctions run. Generators bid into the exchange-run market and Korea Electric Power Corp. buys the electricity under the Hydrogen Economy Promotion and Utilization Act.