Ulsan City Accelerates Promotion of Autonomous Power Trading 'Distributed Energy Specialized Zone'

April 4th 'Specialized' Designation Interagency Meeting Held

Introduction of Promotion Directions and Energy Agencies' Feedback Collection

Ulsan City is accelerating efforts to be designated as a ‘Distributed Energy’ specialized area where small-scale power such as various renewable energies can be autonomously traded.

Ulsan City announced that it will hold the ‘Ulsan Distributed Energy Specialized Area Designation Promotion Energy Related Agencies Meeting’ at 3:30 PM on the 4th in the large conference room on the 2nd floor of the main building.

This meeting was organized to explore ways to secure the lead in designating a distributed energy specialized area, which Ulsan City is focusing on following the passage of the ‘Special Act on the Activation of Distributed Energy’ by the National Assembly on May 25, and to coordinate joint responses for the designation application.

The meeting will be attended by about 20 people, including Jeong Ho-dong, Director of the Economic and Industrial Office, Park Sang-hee, Head of the New Industry Distributed Energy Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Kim Hyung-jung, Director of the Korea Energy Agency. It will proceed with an introduction to the promotion direction of the distributed energy specialized area and gathering opinions from energy-related organizations.

The energy-related agencies attending the meeting agreed on the necessity of selecting Ulsan as a distributed energy specialized area and plan to discuss regulatory discoveries through continuous meetings.

Jeong Ho-dong, Director of the Economic and Industrial Office, said, “We plan to concentrate all administrative power by operating a promotion team composed of experts from industry, academia, research, and government to establish a specialized plan development strategy so that Ulsan can apply for designation as a distributed energy specialized area. We will build networks with related companies and communicate closely with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy so that Ulsan can lead distributed energy in Korea.”

A ‘Distributed Energy Specialized Area’ refers to a region where the expansion of distributed energy supply is promoted to improve the local power self-sufficiency rate. Private companies can also propose distributed energy specialized areas.

The designation application procedure involves the mayor or governor establishing a specialized area plan that includes development strategies, regulatory exemptions and their necessity, and power demand and supply plans, then applying to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. After review and resolution by the Energy Committee, it is announced in the official gazette.

If Ulsan is designated as a distributed energy specialized area, distributed energy operators who install power generation facilities within the specialized area can directly trade electricity with users within the area.

Also, electricity users within the specialized area can choose whether to receive electricity supply from distributed energy operators or Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

In particular, it is advantageous for attracting companies such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and data centers that consume a lot of power, as electricity can be supplied cheaply directly to users, and in cases of power shortage or surplus, direct transactions with the power market and electricity sales operators are possible.

Ulsan City Hall.

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