Liquefied gas as a source of cooling: first project gets underway in South Korea

South Korean gas company KOGAS has received government approval for the country’s first project to use LNG cold energy to report emissions reductions. By supplying cooling to a logistics warehouse, it aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 28,000 tonnes over 15 years. It also sees potential in cooling data centres and other industrial facilities.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is transported and stored at a temperature of around −162 °C. Before being fed into the gas network, it must be warmed and converted back into a gaseous state. Its low-temperature potential can be used for industrial cooling in this process. In the past, cold energy from many terminals was largely discharged into the sea without its energy potential being harnessed.

First approved project in South Korea

KOGAS will supply cooling to a refrigerated logistics warehouse near the LNG terminal in Pyeongtaek. The facility will use it to reduce the electricity needed for cooling. The project received approval in September from South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and was subsequently registered as an external emissions reduction project.

According to KOGAS, it is the first approved project of its kind in the country. Cooperation with Korea Ultra Low Temperature began with a memorandum in February 2023. In March 2024, the ministry also approved the country’s first national methodology for reporting emissions savings from the use of cold energy generated by LNG regasification.

Data centres, which require significant amounts of energy for cooling, are another potential application. KOGAS is therefore working with the Incheon Port Authority and Korea Ultra Low Temperature Incheon to prepare a data and logistics centre complex in the hinterland of the new Incheon port. KOGAS estimates that using cold energy could reduce annual gas and electricity costs by approximately 3.94 million euros and cut emissions by 7,600 tonnes a year. These are expected benefits of the planned project, however, not results already achieved.

KOGAS aims to expand the use of cold energy at four South Korean terminals in Incheon, Pyeongtaek, Tongyeong and Samcheok. The company says they have around four million Gcal of cold energy available annually. At an electricity price of 0.121 euros per kWh, KOGAS estimates potential annual electricity cost savings of up to 134.9 million euros and emissions reductions of up to 2.5 million tonnes of CO2e. This is an estimate of the overall potential, which depends on the scale of projects actually implemented and the availability of customers for the cooling.

Logistics centres, food processing and data centres

The South Korean example shows that LNG infrastructure can provide low-temperature energy to nearby industries as well as supplying gas. In Europe, this could be of particular interest to logistics centres, food processing facilities and data centres located near terminals. However, economic viability depends on local demand for cooling, the distance to customers and the cost of the required infrastructure. For the Czech market, which uses LNG imported through foreign terminals, this is primarily an inspiration for assessing energy savings in the broader European context.