Jeju Province Appoints Younghwan Kim as Energy Special Advisor

Younghwan Kim Jeju Island Energy Special Correspondent. Photo by Jeju Island

On September 2, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province announced that it had appointed Younghwan Kim (age 59), former head of the Korea Power Exchange Jeju Branch, as Energy Special Reporter in order to strengthen the momentum of its carbon neutrality and energy self-sufficiency policies.

Kim, the newly appointed Energy Special Reporter, is an expert with a deep understanding of the unique characteristics of Jeju's power grid, having previously served as the head of the Korea Power Exchange Jeju Branch. He contributed to stabilizing the power network by addressing the imbalance in power supply and demand in the Jeju region and devising measures to ease output restrictions on renewable energy.

Kim presented three key tasks. First, he will ensure the smooth progress of the Chuja Offshore Wind Farm project. The plan is to secure a stable power supply and revitalize the local economy by constructing the nation's largest offshore wind power complex.

He will also accelerate efforts to designate Jeju as a specialized region for distributed energy. The strategy is to build small-scale, distributed power sources at the local level to increase the region’s energy self-sufficiency and overcome the limitations of a centralized power grid.

Additionally, he aims to achieve carbon neutrality by expanding renewable energy. The plan includes increasing the proportion of solar and wind power generation and implementing energy efficiency improvement projects to establish a sustainable energy system.

An official from the province stated, "With the appointment of an Energy Special Reporter who has both expertise and field experience in the power sector, we expect the energy transition policy to gain further momentum."

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