District Heating to Be Supplied to 4.46 Million Households by 2028, Covering 21% of All Residences

Public Hearing on the 6th Basic Plan for Collective Energy Supply
District Heating to Reach 4.46 Million Households by 2028
Clean Heat Source Transition and Decarbonization at the Core of New Policy

The government has announced plans to supply district heating to 4.46 million households by 2028. This will bring district heating coverage to 21% of all residences.

On February 14, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a public hearing at the Bankers’ Club and unveiled the "6th Basic Plan for Collective Energy Supply (2024-2028)."

The Basic Plan for Collective Energy Supply (referred to as the Basic Collective Energy Plan) is a legally mandated five-year plan established under the Collective Energy Business Act. It outlines medium- and long-term supply strategies, target recipients, as well as goals for energy savings and greenhouse gas reduction. The current draft was developed based on research by the Korea Energy Economics Institute, taking into account national energy policy directions and stakeholder recommendations.

The collective energy business involves supplying heat or electricity produced at energy facilities such as combined heat and power (CHP) plants to multiple users. District heating is the most representative example. Supplying heating and hot water to homes via individual boilers is known as individual heating, while district heating refers to supplying heating and hot water to a designated area using heat generated during electricity production at CHP plants.

The plan aims to increase the cumulative number of households with district heating to 4.46 million by 2028, an 18% rise compared to 3.78 million households in 2023. The number of collective energy sites in industrial complexes will be expanded to 54 by 2028, up from 45 in 2023. As a result, by 2028, district heating is expected to be supplied to 21.3% of the nation’s total 20.9 million households.

The core of the 6th Basic Collective Energy Plan is the "transition to clean heat sources." Key initiatives include: establishing new requirements for designating areas to utilize unused heat such as waste heat from power plants and incinerators; developing a roadmap for clean heat sources; introducing a Renewable Heat Certification (RHC) system for collective energy produced from clean heat sources; advancing the national heat map; and establishing guidelines for heat trading.

In addition, the government plans to launch a pilot "Power-to-Heat (P2H)" project that uses surplus renewable electricity, and to introduce incentives for heat pumps that utilize low-temperature heat. These measures are intended to lay the groundwork for decarbonizing collective energy in industrial complexes and district heating systems.

The Ministry expects that the 6th Basic Collective Energy Plan will result in a total energy savings of 45 million TOE and a reduction of 92 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the plan period. The Ministry will finalize the plan within this month after considering the feedback gathered at the public hearing.

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