Shinbo, ESS Warranty Drastically Decreases by 85% in One Year (2018→2019)

Among the total support amount of 41.2 billion KRW, 94% concentrated on solar power generation support
Min Hyung-bae: "Guarantee agencies must actively discover to support national tasks"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] It has been revealed that the 2019 ESS (Energy Storage System) guarantee project by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund significantly decreased compared to 2018.

According to data submitted by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to Min Hyung-bae (Gwangsan-gu Eul), a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 3rd, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund guaranteed a total of 41.2 billion KRW over three years from 2017, when the ESS guarantee was introduced, to 2019. In the first year of introduction, 9.2 billion KRW was guaranteed, and in 2018, 28 billion KRW was guaranteed. In 2019, it was 4 billion KRW, a decrease of 85% compared to the previous year.

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund's ESS guarantee project is part of the Moon Jae-in administration's 100 national tasks in 2017. It began with the signing of the "Business Agreement for Activation of Financial Support for New Energy Industry" (September 19, 2017) to leap forward as a leading country in the new energy industry and to transition to a low-carbon, high-efficiency structure.

At the time of introduction, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund stated, "ESS is a blue ocean of the new energy business," and "We will strengthen preferential support for ESS industry investment companies to expand growth engines for small and medium-sized manufacturers and take the lead in energy business efficiency."

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund is shifting responsibility for the lack of activation of the system to other institutions, stating, "Since 2019, the number of recommendations from the Korea Energy Agency has been decreasing."

Another issue is the excessive concentration of the ESS project in specific regions or industries. Looking at the support status by region, 14.6 billion KRW, accounting for 35% of the total guarantee amount of 41.2 billion KRW, was concentrated in Chungnam, and 38.8 billion KRW, accounting for 94%, was invested in solar power generation.

Analyzing the data, Assemblyman Min Hyung-bae pointed out, "Since this is a project of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund itself, active efforts to discover guarantee projects beyond guarantees for companies recommended by the Korea Energy Agency are necessary," and added, "Measures should be prepared in connection with ESS safety measures and the Korean New Deal, and through close consultations with related agreement companies, concrete guarantee expansion should be promoted to support national tasks."

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