Government to Allocate 1.6GW of Nationwide 'Placeholder Operator' Grid Capacity

Allocation for Applicants Without Grid Usage Contracts and New Power Generation Operators

On the 7th, as heatwaves and tropical nights continue across most regions nationwide, officials are checking the power supply status at the Grid Operation Center of the Power Management Division, Korea Electric Power Corporation Gyeonggi Headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 29th that it will allocate 1.6GW of available capacity, secured through the management of so-called 'placeholder operators' who reserve grid capacity without actually engaging in power generation, to new applicants seeking to start power generation projects.

This allocation of available capacity is a follow-up measure to the inspection of grid placeholder operators that began in July last year. After allocating 336MW to the Honam region in February, the program is now being expanded nationwide.

The authorities will provide advance notice to operators who hold power generation permits but have not yet signed grid usage contracts, and will accept allocation applications for two weeks starting from June 12.

If there is any remaining capacity after this process, operators who do not yet have power generation permits will be notified of the allocation through the websites of the relevant permitting agencies starting June 28.

This nationwide allocation of reclaimed placeholder capacity is being implemented to provide opportunities to genuine power generation operators who wish to obtain early grid connection and generation permits, even as 205 substations across the country are currently designated as grid management substations.

The Ministry plans to conduct regular annual inspections of grid placeholder operators every July and to allocate the secured available capacity in both the first and second halves of the following year. In addition, the Ministry is considering expanding the scope of redistribution not only to reclaimed placeholder capacity but also to capacity from canceled power generation projects.

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