[Exclusive] 'Blind Money' Renewable Energy Research Funds... 57.7 Billion Won Misused Last Year

17 out of 31 Suspended and Sanctioned Projects by the Ministry of Industry
Budget Surged under Moon Administration, Management Has Gaps

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] Among the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's research and development (R&D) projects that had their funding suspended last year due to misuse of research funds, more than half were related to renewable energy projects. While the government has been accelerating the 'energy transition' over the past four years and pouring budgets into developing new renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind power, criticism is emerging that management has been neglected.

According to the National Assembly Budget Office on the 11th, there were 17 R&D projects related to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's core renewable energy technology development that had their funding suspended or were subject to sanctions last year. Among these, 8 projects that had budgets allocated last year had received a total of 57.7 billion KRW of public funds. Due to the suspension of these projects, all of this money was wasted.

In particular, while the total number of R&D projects suspended or sanctioned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy decreased annually from 70 in 2019 to 31 in 2020, the number of suspended core renewable energy technology development projects increased from 7 to 17 during the same period.

The main reason for the suspension of support for core renewable energy technology development projects was found to be mostly misuse of research funds. The number of such cases increased from 4 in 2018 and 5 in 2019 to 12 last year. This included misappropriation of personnel expenses or collusion with supplier companies to embezzle material costs. They exploited loopholes in supervision to use research funds for purposes other than originally intended.

Following this, there were 3 cases of poor research performance and 2 cases of deterioration in the financial condition of the lead institutions.

The Budget Office pointed out, "Since 2018, government support for the renewable energy sector has expanded, increasing research funding annually for core renewable energy technology development projects. However, the number of projects suspended or sanctioned due to improper use of research funds is also rising. Given concerns about sunk research costs and reduced effectiveness of budget expansion due to project suspensions, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy needs to manage the core renewable energy technology development projects more carefully."

Since the government faces limitations in preemptively supervising all budgets, opinions suggest the need for selective and focused budget management. Professor Jeong Dongwook of the Department of Energy Systems Engineering at Chung-Ang University said, "It is true that the renewable energy budget has increased, but since fields such as solar, wind, and geothermal are diverse, limited resources tend to be dispersed across many areas. The government should support these areas through 'selection and concentration' while strengthening supervision over them."

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