The government will introduce a system next year that assigns renewable energy capacity expansion targets to public agencies as well as power generators, part of an effort to reach 100 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.
Under a partial amendment to the enforcement decree of the Act on the Promotion of Renewable Energy Development, Use and Deployment, which the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment put out for public comment on the 25th, public agencies whose primary business is not electricity generation will also be designated as subject to renewable energy target management. The move follows the complete replacement of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which had driven the expansion of renewable energy, with a fixed-price contract scheme.
The RPS required power generators with at least 500 megawatts of generation capacity — including KEPCO and its state-run generation subsidiaries — to supply a set share of their output from renewable sources. Operators met the obligation either by building renewable power plants themselves or by purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) from private generators. With the RPS now gone, the government plans to manage the sector by imposing renewable generation obligations or setting targets.
Targets will be set in two categories: the renewable generation capacity each public agency installs directly, and the amount of idle land it provides to renewable energy generators. Land is included as a benchmark so that targets can also be assigned to agencies whose main business is not power generation, such as the Korea Expressway Corporation and the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL).