Government: "78 Trillion Won Needed for Power Grid Investment by 2030"

Additional 30 Trillion Won Investment Needed for Power Grid Stability Due to NDC Increase
First Power Grid Investment Plan After NDC Announcement

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The government has identified that an additional 30 trillion KRW is required solely for stabilizing the power grid in line with the 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) enhancement. With the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, the government plans to invest a total of 78 trillion KRW in power facility investments by 2030 to support this growth. This amounts to approximately 9 trillion KRW annually starting next year.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the "Power Grid Innovation Plan" at the "Power Grid Innovation Meeting" chaired by Deputy Minister Park Ki-young. The meeting was attended by public enterprises and institutions such as Korea Electric Power Corporation, private experts, and industry workers.

The innovation plan has attracted attention as it is the first to be released after the government’s carbon emission reduction targets were finalized. Previously, the government announced an NDC to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2018, and this plan represents the first investment strategy to achieve that goal.

The government had already confirmed investments of 23.4 trillion KRW for transmission and transformation facilities and 24.1 trillion KRW for distribution facilities by 2030, but it sees an additional 30 trillion KRW as necessary to proactively advance the long-term construction of transmission networks.

The additional 30 trillion KRW investment, considering the NDC enhancement, is aimed at expanding renewable energy. According to the government’s NDC, the share of renewable energy generation will increase fivefold from 6.6% in 2020 to 30.2% in 2030. To deliver electricity generated from solar and wind power, various power facilities such as power grids, substation transformers, and transmission stations must be equipped. Since renewable energy deployment is increasing exponentially in a short period, additional investment is inevitable.

For large-scale wind power complexes, transmission operators will pre-establish joint connection facilities and link the complexes to the grid immediately upon completion. Additionally, grid stabilization will be carried out to flexibly operate the power grid accommodating the rapidly expanding renewable energy.

Alongside this, an integrated control system capable of real-time monitoring and remote control of renewable energy generation will be established by 2025. The government will review plans to build power grids that balance power supply and demand by region and introduce a "Power Grid Impact Assessment System" to promote the dispersion of power grid demand concentrated in specific areas.

The government plans to add these investment plans to the "9th Long-term Transmission and Transformation Facility Plan" released last September and prepare detailed power grid reinforcement plans in the first half of next year. It also intends to reflect these plans as much as possible in the 10th Basic Plan for Power Supply and Demand to be established by the end of next year.

Deputy Minister Park Ki-young emphasized, "Our power grid faces many challenges in accommodating rapidly expanding renewable energy such as solar and wind power during the implementation of the 2030 NDC and the realization of carbon neutrality by 2050," adding, "With frequent delays in the construction of already planned transmission and transformation facilities, it is urgent to prepare measures to resolve these issues."

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