Government to Fully Implement Core 'Solar Power Carbon Certification System' for 'Eco-Friendly' Policy in the Second Half of the Year

Government to Hold Electronic Public Hearings from the 14th to Gather Industry Opinions
Carbon Emissions Evaluated and Rated for Solar Products Production
Incentives for Low-Carbon Products... Government Promotes Eco-Friendly Initiatives

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced that it will fully implement the solar power carbon certification system, a core policy for 'eco-friendly and high-efficiency,' starting in the second half of the year.

On the 12th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced that it will actively promote related carbon certification policies beginning with an electronic public hearing on the 14th.

The carbon certification system is a system that quantifies and manages the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted throughout all processes of manufacturing solar modules.

MOTIE will hold the electronic public hearing from the 14th to the 30th. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the on-site public hearing scheduled for the 28th will also be accessible via MOTIE's YouTube channel.

The public hearing was organized to gather opinions from stakeholders in various fields such as solar power and environment regarding MOTIE's plan to introduce the carbon certification system.

MOTIE expects opinions on ▲methods for calculating carbon emissions ▲setting grade intervals based on emission amounts ▲providing incentives according to grade intervals, among others.

Among the carbon emission calculation evaluation systems, the 'standard evaluation method' is a standard system measuring emissions by country and by materials and components. The LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) evaluation is a method that individually assesses emissions by company and product.

Regarding incentives, discussions are expected on awarding additional points in fixed-price contract competitive bidding and whether to apply additional weighting to solar renewable energy certificates (RECs).

Based on the opinions gathered at the public hearing, MOTIE plans to finalize the carbon certification system operation notice and detailed verification standards by next month. It will start accepting certification applications from companies in June and fully implement the system in the second half of the year.

An official from MOTIE explained, "Once the carbon certification system is introduced, it will be possible to evaluate and grade carbon emissions in all processes of solar product production," adding, "Providing various incentives for low-carbon products will significantly enhance the eco-friendliness of domestically distributed solar products."

After announcing the 'Renewable Energy Industry Competitiveness Enhancement Plan' in April last year, MOTIE commissioned a policy research project to introduce the carbon certification system by December of the same year.

They have collected opinions from the solar power industry six times and started pre-verification of carbon emissions targeting the solar module manufacturing industry since last month.

For pre-verification, they measured carbon emissions for major solar modules, conducted pilot certification of carbon emissions, and provided education and consulting support for calculating carbon emissions for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Detailed information about the public hearing will be announced on MOTIE's website starting from the 13th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.