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First commercial-scale Korean H2Gen deployment also marks Utility Global's initial global expansion in low carbon fuels vertical, following MAAS energy biogas project in California
HOUSTON and DAEJEON, South Korea, June 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Utility Global ("Utility"), a U.S.-based global economic industrial decarbonization company enabling practical solutions for hard-to-abate sectors, and SAMJIN E&I ("SAMJIN"), a Korean industrial manufacturing and project development company, announced an engineering services agreement for Utility's H2Gen project in Daejeon, South Korea.
Daejeon Project Engineering Agreement Signing Ceremony
This follows the recently announced strategic collaboration agreement with SAMJIN and enables engineering work to progress the project from front-end loading (FEL-1) through FEL-3 to the final investment decision (FID). Through this effort, Utility is on track to deliver its first commercial-scale plant in the country, marking a major milestone and its first global expansion of a commercial low-carbon fuels project outside of the USA. It is also the first in a series of projects Utility is actively developing in Korea.
Daejeon is emerging as a key hydrogen hub and continues to invest significantly in its infrastructure and production to support sustainable energy and transport decarbonization. When operational, the H2Gen plant will produce 3.5 ton per day of fuel cell grade hydrogen that is targeted for a fleet of hydrogen-powered trams, as the first project of its kind in South Korea. Numerous other cities in the country have announced similar initiatives.
"Reaching this milestone underscores how we translate clean energy ambition into economically viable, real-world projects," said Parker Meeks, chief executive officer and president of Utility Global. "By partnering with SAMJIN to move this project through front-end engineering, we're taking a critical step toward delivering scalable, commercially viable hydrogen solutions for hard-to-abate sectors. South Korea's leadership in hydrogen innovation makes it an ideal market to demonstrate how localized H2Gen deployment can support industrial and transportation transition to clean fuels, energy resilience and meaningful emissions reduction at the same time."
Under the engineering services agreement, the companies will complete the necessary front-end engineering and design (FEED) to enable the deployment of the Daejeon H2Gen project, with FID targeted by June 2027.
"This engineering services agreement represents meaningful progress from collaboration to execution," said Ho Young Jeong, chief executive officer of SAMJIN E&I. "SAMJIN is proud to work with Utility as we believe its H2Gen technology can support the advancement of decentralized hydrogen infrastructure in South Korea. Their differentiated approach aligns with Korea's rapidly growing hydrogen economy while focusing on practical and economic decarbonization in multiple sectors, including transportation."
Utility's proprietary H2Gen technology converts water into clean hydrogen and a high-purity carbon dioxide stream without electricity by using industrial off-gases and biogases. The process supports economic and scalable decarbonization by reducing costs and complexity around carbon capture, utilization or sequestration (CCUS). Additionally, H2Gen's modular system is designed to seamlessly integrate into existing industrial infrastructure and operations for applications with a small footprint across industries including steel, refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, mobility, low-carbon fuels and distributed energy systems.
About Utility Global
Utility delivers practical solutions that enable economic industrial decarbonization across hard-to-abate sectors including steel, mobility, refining, chemicals, and upstream oil & gas. The company's breakthrough H2Gen® technology harnesses energy from industrial off gases and biogases to produce application-specific, high-purity hydrogen with low-to-negative carbon intensity on-site from water, without electricity, using a proprietary electrochemical process.
H2Gen also produces a high-concentration carbon dioxide stream, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of carbon capture. Modular, scalable, and operationally flexible, H2Gen systems integrate seamlessly into existing industrial assets with a record-small footprint, enabling practical and economical decarbonization.
Utility is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private equity and infrastructure firm that is decarbonizing the industrial economy.
For more information on Utility's solutions and services, visit www.utilityglobal.com
About SAMJIN E&I
SAMJIN E&I is a South Korean industrial manufacturing and project development company serving the energy, industrial, global oil & gas, and wastewater sectors. The company operates multiple manufacturing facilities in Korea and provides engineering, fabrication, operations, and project development capabilities supporting advanced industrial infrastructure projects.
For more information, visit www.samjinvalve.com
About Ara Partners
Founded in 2017, Ara Partners is a global private markets firm focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy. We invest in the middle market across three strategies: Private Equity, Infrastructure, and Energy. We scale commercially demonstrated decarbonization solutions, support the businesses and infrastructure that enable their adoption, and reduce emissions at the source across the conventional energy value chain. Ara operates from Houston, Boston, Dublin and Washington D.C., and as of September 30, 2025, had approximately $6.6 billion in assets under management. For more information, visit www.arapartners.com
