The Daegu Metropolitan City named after a large hill engulfing the peninsula, a city of 2.5million people located in the south-eastern part of Korea is welcoming delegates from around the world to the 28th edition of the 2023 from May 23- 27.
The Republic of Korea has eight provinces, one special self-governing province, six metropolitan cities (self-governing cities that are not part of any province), one special city, and one special self-governing city. Daegu, its third-largest urban city after Seoul and Busan, is positioned as an energy hub with visitors enthralled by the sheer volume of hydrogen-powered vehicles waffling across the carefully manicured roads.
The city has ambitions to become a leader in low-carbon green growth and to achieve this objective, it is leading regional industry projects that focus on solar energy and fuel cells. It has also established a renewable energy test center.
Daegu with a flair for industry was an economic lifeline of Korea during the 1960s–1980s due to its burgeoning electronics industry. Its textile industry was so formidable that at a time, Daegu was called “Textile City”.
Today, it is shifting to new energy technologies but has not completely abandoned its textile industry. With the establishment of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone, it is finding innovative ways to foster fashion as well as its high-tech industries.
Korea’s energy city develops next-generation thin-film solar cells (amorphous silicon cells and organic photovoltaic cells) and is gradually becoming a global hub for the development and marketing of fuel cells and hydrogen storage systems for power generation and transport.
In 2016, it completed a Mobile Nuclear Battery hub for the commercialization of small batteries used in extra small airplanes and medical devices. In the past decade, it has constructed a fuel cell power plant with a total capacity of 11.2 MW.
Thanks to innovative city concepts like in Daegu, the Republic of Korea is embarking on a significant expansion of its infrastructure for battery and hydrogen vehicles. There are over 1,000 charging stations and the country plans to take its hydrogen stations from 12 to 43 by the end of 2022 and 53 in 2003.
According to the Korean government website, in 2014 battery-electric vehicles totaled only 2,775, but in 2017, this grew to 25,108 and by 2021, it has soared past 211,10 677 battery-electric vehicles. The number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has also grown exponentially from none in 2014 to 170 in 2017, to 10,906 in 2020 and last year it surged to 18,068 fuel cell electric vehicles.
“The air is the first thing you notice when you step out of a vehicle,” says one delegate arriving from Nigeria. “You can sense, its cleanness, it’s refreshing,”
The World Gas Conference (WGC 2022), a triennial event conducted by the International Gas Union (IGU), is regarded as an important gas industry event. WGC2022 consists of around 70 sessions with various networking activities, cultural experiences, and technical visits.
This edition is hosted by the Korea Gas Union and supported by the Korean Government, host sponsor KOGAS, Daegu Metropolitan City, and a National Organising Committee of 50 global institutions, the organisers say the event’s core aim is to promote the role of natural gas in a sustainable future.
“It will address the most timely issues facing the energy access, carbon neutrality, and energy security,” said Bong Kyu Park, chairman of the WGC2022 National Organising Committee.
Daegu will host 12,000 attendees and 350 exhibitors representing 500 companies from more than 90 countries. Among the institutions expected from Nigeria include the Nigeria LNG whose managing director will deliver an address, the Nigerian Gas Association which is hosting a pavilion as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) whose CEO is expected to give a speech.
The sessions according to the oranisers, promise unrivaled access to industry thought leaders, new markets, emerging technologies, and smart policy responses to an increasingly volatile gas market.
“Following the first meeting in 1931, WGC2022 marks the 28th edition of the largest and most important event of the global gas industry,” says Hee-Bong Chae, president, and CEO of KOGAS.
The backdrop to the conference is an energy market in turmoil following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 setting off a series of events that forced Europe to rethink its energy dependence on Russia.
Analysts say the current disruption to the global gas market may permanently change and supply chains are going to face continuing challenges for decades to come under constant threat of disruption for the next decade.
In a world faced with the prospect of tightening supplies, higher energy costs, environmental concerns, heightened geopolitical risk, and strained transportation networks, the decisions policymakers and market leaders make at conferences like these and how they are implemented have huge implications for the global energy security.
