Community acceptance of hydrogen power plant projects: The case of South Korea

Abstract

Hydrogen fuel cell power plants are emerging as a means of transition to a hydrogen economy paradigm to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Owing to its advantage of eliminating the need for high-voltage transmission grid installations and reducing related conflicts, the acceptance by the community is key to the successful construction of hydrogen fuel cell power plants near residential regions for a decentralized generation that provides heat as well as electricity. This study estimated residents’ willingness to accept the construction of a hydrogen fuel cell power plant construction and identified the marginal willingness to accept the attributes using a contingent valuation method and discrete choice experiment, respectively. Combining the results of the two methods, a simulation was conducted to determine the subsidy level. The results revealed that the annual WTA of residents for a 5 MW hydrogen fuel cell power plant at a distance of 1 km from the residential area was about KRW 7.8 million (USD 6037/year). However, the annual WTA decreases to KRW 5.41 million (USD 4185/year) if the plant does not have a large-scale hydrogen storage tank internally and increases to KRW 9.42 million (USD 7287/year) if the plant does not supply hot water. The results of this study can serve as empirical evidence for policymakers to secure their acceptance of expanding hydrogen fuel cell power plants and achieving a hydrogen economy.