The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy presented a new plan for the growth of the energy industry on November 23. The idea is to make a large investment in the fields including energy prosumer, low-carbon power generation, electric vehicle manufacturing and eco-friendly processing so as to better cope with the new climate regime and work on new growth opportunities. According to its plan, the energy prosumer market is to be expanded to reach 73 trillion won(US$ 6.3 billion) in size by 2030 with 417,000 new jobs. The target figures are 10.1795 trillion won(US$ 9 billion) and 46,000 for low-carbon power generation, 17.9 trillion won(US $ 1.5 billion) and 30,000 for pure electric vehicle manufacturing and 2.6 trillion won(US$ 2.2 billion) and 12,500 for eco-friendly processing.
An energy prosumer market is slated to be opened soon and expanded nationwide by 2030. In the market, electricity generated by means of solar power, energy storage systems, electric vehicles and the like can be traded even by individuals. To this end, micro grid projects are launched at 10 or more colleges, at least 100 industrial complexes, island areas and so on while zero-energy building regulations are imposed on new buildings built in or after 2025.
In the meantime, 40% of coal-fired power plants in Korea are to adopt high-efficiency power generation systems by 2030 and their greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by at least four million tons a year until the same year by means of large-scale CO2 collection and storage systems. More electric vehicle charging systems are to be set up until 2020 so that the number of electric vehicles in Korea can be increased to one million by 2030 and their maximum distance of travel per full charge is to be increased by 2.5-fold.
A number of hurdles are ahead though. For example, the domestic energy prosumer market is a fledgling one with few associated ecosystems and the profitability of and the return on investment in the facilities such as energy storage and solar power systems required for the market have yet to be guaranteed. R&D for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is a technical challenge in the field of eco-friendly processing and it is expected to take time for electric vehicles to surpass cars in general in terms of performance.
“70 Korean companies are planning on an investment of 19 trillion won for five years to come in this regard,” the ministry explained, adding, “The government will assist in their efforts by systemic improvement and investment in them.”