New Energy Policies

 

Since last year, the Korean government has moved ahead with eight projects in order to accelerate the growth of the energy industry: electric vehicle battery lease and paid charging in the private sector; creation of 100 billion-won demands in the demand response trading market; six energy-independent island sub-projects including that for Ulleungdo Island; establishment of 200 MW ESS for frequency adjustment; construction of eco-friendly energy towns in the cities including Hongcheon; construction of zero-energy buildings; utilization of hot waste water discharged from power plants; and lease of solar power generation means to more than 10,000 households.

Based on the outcome, the Korean government is looking to come up with new energy industry strategies for 2030 to cope with the new climate regime. According to its plan, an energy prosumer power market is to be opened so that small amounts of electric power produced by individuals and in buildings and the like can be put on sale. This type of business is planned to be spread nationwide by 2030.

In addition, the power industry is overhauled for low-carbon power generation. By 2030, 40 percent of the coal-fired power plants in Korea are to be equipped with high-efficiency generation systems such as ultra super critical (USC). Then, the average power generation efficiency is expected to be improved by five percentage points and the CO2 emissions per power station can be reduced by 850,000 tons a year.

The number of pure electric vehicles in operation in Korea is planned to be increased to at least one million by 2030, too. All the vehicles in Jeju are to be replaced with EVs while the performance of such cars is improved by 250 percent by 2020. Furthermore, 33,000 intra-city buses are to be substituted with EVs by 2030.

In the meantime, the number of smart factories for higher energy efficiency is raised to 40,000 by 2030, equivalent to two-thirds of those run by manufacturers. The size of the ESS industry is to be boosted to 10 GWh during the same period.

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