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"Special Act to Revitalize Distributed Energy" Passes the National Assembly of Korea

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- Creating an institutional foundation for the establishment of local energy systems - Enactment of subordinate laws (enforcement decrees, implementation rules, etc.) and promotion of comprehensive measures for distributed energy - Electricity tariff will vary from region to region National Assembly "The proposed Law on Distributed Energy passed the plenary session of the National Assembly of Korea on May 25 (Thursday). The Law on Distributed Energy was proposed to overcome the limitations of the existing centralized power system, such as social conflicts frequently occurring due to the low acceptance of local residents during the construction of large-scale power plants and long-distance transmission networks, and to establish a distributed energy system that allows electricity to be generated and consumed near demand locations.  The main contents of the Law of Distributed Energy include the 1) Power System Impact Assessment for regional distribution of large-scale power demand, ...

Member of National Assembly of Korea proposed Farming Solar Act

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A bill was proposed for the mixed use of farming and solar generation // A bill has been proposed in the National Assembly that would allow farmers to combine farming and solar power generation. Due to the mountainous and narrow nature of the country, it is inevitable to utilize agricultural land to expand solar power generation, but the current law does not allow crop cultivation and solar business on the same farmland. Yoon Jun-byung, a member of the National Assembly, said he has introduced a bill to amend the Agricultural Land Act. The bill includes the concept of "mixed use of farmland," which is the basis for installing agricultural solar on farmland. However, mixed use is only allowed on self-protected farmland (farmland owned by the farmer) that is not designated as an agricultural promotion zone or on farmland in an agricultural promotion zone that is directly operated by a village community. According to Yoon, farm-based solar projects "can simultaneously produ...

One year into government, nuclear ecosystem is back on track in Korea

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Main equipment manufacture for Shin Hanul units 3, 4 starts, 2 trillion won auxiliary equipment ordered MOTIE (Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy) presents roadmap for R&D and human resource development to revitalize nuclear ecosystem // (Shin Hanul Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)) A year after the President Yoon's administration took office in May last year and promoted "strengthening the NPP industry ecosystem" as its core national priorities, it is back on track. This is a fulfillment of the promise made by the President at the 'Meeting with Nuclear Industry Partners' that he personally presided over shortly after his inauguration, "We will actively support the revitalization of the nuclear ecosystem and promptly and efficiently resume the construction of Shin Hanul units 3, 4." Beyond restoring and normalizing the NPP ecosystem, the government is now providing policy support to secure the NPP industry's global competitiveness. First, the manufa...

K-Battery invests aggressively to maintain first-in-class technology in global markets

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Three Korea battery companies are to actively invest in R&D and expansition Achieved good 1Q financial results and expect to have more benefits from IRA   Making efforts to diversify the mineral sources to reduce the dependence on China // There is an industry that has been able to survive in current rapidly changing business environment. It's K-battery. In the aftermath of the US-China supply chain war, uncertainty grew, but in the end, the crisis became an opportunity. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was implemented by the U.S. to exclude China from the battery material supply chain, has become a springboard for growth for K-Battery, which has built up its technology and stable production capacity over the years. The market's acceptance of electrification has been much faster than the automotive industry expected. LG Energy Solutions has been receiving the most requests for cooperation. It has established JVs with General Motors (GM), Hyundai, Stellantis, and Ho...

Appointment of Kang Kyung-sung as 2nd vice minister of MOTIE in Korea

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KEPCO, astronomical deficit, but slow to restructure Dissatisfied with slow promotion of nuclear policy and appointed new vice minister President Yoon Seok-yeol warns of "drastic personnel measures if we don't meet the new national guidelines"// The presidential office announced in a press release that it has appointed Kang Kyung-sung (photo), the current secretary for industrial policy at the presidential office, as the second vice minister of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). The president's sudden appointment lends weight to the interpretation that it is a hard-line personnel move against Park Il-joon, the second vice minister in charge of energy policy at MOTIE. The basis for this interpretation can be found in Yoon's recent warning messages to ministry officials in public, where he warned them against apathetic attitude. A day before his one-year anniversary, Yoon instructed ministers to "take drastic personnel measures if they take an ambi...

Mandatory consortium with public enterprise in large-scale wind power in Jeju Island in Korea

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Jeju Province will identify the appropriate sites for wind development Wind developers should establish consortium with Jeju Energy Corporation // The Jeju Province announced on the 11th that it has revised and supplemented the 'Public Led 2.0 Wind Power Development Plan Improvement (Draft)' by collecting opinions from residents and experts. The plan is to change the way of participation through the division of roles between Jeju Island and the Jeju Energy Corporation, and to further strengthen publicity in the entire process from development to operation, while also securing project speed.  First of all, for large-scale wind power development (20 MW or more (land) and 50 MW or more (offshore)), it was decided to pre-discover suitable locations for wind power resource development in the public in consideration of the site environment.  If Jeju Island identifies potential development locations through the establishment of a five-year comprehensive wind power plan, the Jeju Ener...

SK E&S, US Plug to invest KRW 1 trillion in hydrogen industry in South Korea

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SK & Plug are jointly to build hydrogen factory in Korea It will begin mass production in 2025 for sales in Korea and Asian markets SK will also invest liquefied hydrogen charging stations in Korea // SK E&S and Plug Power will invest a total of KRW 1 trillion in hydrogen generators in South Korea through the joint venture 'SK Plug Hiverse', which was established last year. SK E&S will contribute 51 billion won and Plug will contribute 49 billion won, depending on their shareholdings in the joint venture. The investment will be used to build a hydrogen technology research and development (R&D) center and Giga-factory in Korea. The Giga-factory is a production base for hydrogen core facilities that can mass-produce hydrogen fuel cells and water electrolysis facilities for vehicles and power generation. It will begin mass production in 2025 and supply products to the domestic and Asian markets. The hydrogen fuel cells and water electrolysis facilities produced her...