South Korean state utility Korea Southeast Power and EPC firm Samsung C&T have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chungnam regional government to develop the “Dangjin Green Energy Hub,” a hydrogen fuel cell power plant linked to a data center.

The project will be South Korea's first fuel cell hydrogen power plant. It will utilize a 900MW hydrogen plant in conjunction with 300MW of battery energy storage to support the operations of a large-scale data center.

The project is estimated to cost $1.7 billion, with the data center alone representing an $860 million investment. The project is expected to reach commercial operations by 2032.

The hydrogen project will produce green hydrogen using renewable energy sourced from local providers. The power will subsequently power local data centers and regional industrial complexes.

The BESS, comprised of three 100MW units, will manage and store solar energy produced on-site to ensure stability in power supply to the data center and other industrial off-takers.

Hydrogen is gaining steam as a potential power source for data center operations, with several companies exploring its feasibility.

Last week, green hydrogen developer GH2 revealed it was exploring linking its wind-to-hydrogen project in Newfoundland to a data center campus. The project initially envisioned supplying hydrogen to the European mainland.

However, due to concerns over the growth of the commercial-scale green ammonia market, the company has pivoted towards data centers as a potential off-take partner.

In October, Keppel Data Centers signed a conditional offtake term sheet to supply and purchase liquid hydrogen from Woodside. The supply agreement aims to power Keppel’s data center portfolio in Singapore.

Before this, Mobii Green Energy Group announced plans for a hydrogen-powered data center in New Zealand.