DeSantis, South Korean business leaders make hydrogen research hub deal

(The Center Square) – Florida and South Korea already have a $1.3 billion trade relationship Gov. Ron DeSantis said when meeting with political and business leaders in South Korea. “But we can do more,” he said, and did by signing a memorandum of understanding with a South Korean corporation to facilitate hydrogen technology in Florida.

DeSantis signed the MOU with LowCarbon Hydrogen Corporation expanding Space Florida’s footprint in Florida; building on Space Florida initiatives he also advanced with the Japanese on the first leg of a four-country trade mission trip.

The MOU was signed by the governor and CEO of LowCarbon Co. Ltd. and involved Space Florida, an independent special district and subdivision of the state, and a Florida corporation, Ocean Green Hydrogen Corporation. The MOU says their goal is to “collaborate in the installation of carbon capture utilizations and direct air capture in space and aerospace industrial complexes in Central Florida [and] in the supply and distribution of clean hydrogen and the provision of reliable, predictable clean hydrogen,” among other administrative and business objectives.

The company plans to develop a clean hydrogen facility in Polk County, Florida, the governor’s office said, which is expected to break ground this June.

“Florida is where leading aerospace companies get everything they need to see their new idea take off, and with our strategic partnership with LowCarbon Corporation and Ocean Green Hydrogen we are diversifying opportunities across the fuel supply chain,” Frank DiBello, president and CEO, Space Florida, said in a statement.

The governor’s office says the collaboration “is a significant step towards promoting Florida as not only the launch capital of the world, but also the place for companies across the aerospace supply chain to grow.”

Since 2007, the total economic impact of Florida’s aerospace finance and development authority totaled $5.9 billion. Over the next five years, Space Florida’s total economic impact is expected to exceed $5.3 billion, with an average annual impact of $1.1 billion, according to Space Florida’s most recent economic impact report. Part of the economic impact includes $2.8 billion in GDP throughout Florida, $1.7 billion in household income and $548 million in federal, state, and local fiscal revenues.

Also on his trip, the governor met with the South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo to discuss their “partnership with shared values of democracy, human rights and a belief in the free market economy.”

Annual merchandise trade between Florida and South Korea exceeds $1.3 billion, making it Florida’s seventh-largest bilateral trade partner in Asia. Last year, South Korea imported over $341.6 million from Florida while Florida imported over $951 million in goods from South Korea.

South Korean affiliates with operations in Florida have estimated total holdings of over $107 million.

The Florida trade delegation left South Korea for Israel, where DeSantis next met with Israeli leaders and gave remarks celebrating Israel’s 75th anniversary. The last and final stop on the trade delegation trip is the U.K.