Hanwha Power Systems said Thursday it plans to generate electricity using pressure from gas pipelines.

According to South Korea’s leading industrial air compressor maker, it will develop a system that can transform natural gas decompression energy into electrical energy.

“High pressure gas has to be decompressed to low pressure gas before it is distributed to households. In the process, the gas expands, emitting energy. Hanwha Power Systems aims to tap this energy by installing a turbo expansion generator system, which is basically a turbine,” a company official said.

Previously, the energy created during the decompression process was lost without any use.

For high pressure gas to turn into low pressure gas, it needs heat.

To deliver heat, Hanwha’s decompression generation system will be linked to fuel cells made by Doosan Fuel Cell.

With natural gas from the pipelines, Doosan’s fuel cells can generate electricity, heat and hydrogen. The heat will be used for raising the temperature of high pressure gas so that it turns into low pressure gas.

“Doosan Fuel Cell plans to supply heat to Hanwha’s decompression generation system and also supply hydrogen to hydrogen charging stations,” a company official said.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)