Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Vice Minister Lee attends inaugural meeting of LNG Bunkering Industry Association

Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Lee Kwan-sup attended the inaugural meeting of the LNG Bunkering Industry Association with other industry leaders including Lee Seung-hoon, CEO of Korea Gas Corporation and representatives from 21 member companies in shipbuilding, energy, shipping, and other related sectors in Seoul on July 15. In his opening remarks, Vice Minister Lee asked the association to play a leading role in helping Korea’s shipbuilding and shipping industries become gl date2016-07-15

Vice Minister Woo congratulates ground-breaking for eco-friendly energy town

date2016-07-07

Korea to invest 42 trillion won in new energy businesses by 2020

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the government will invest a total of 42 trillion won (USD 36.6 billion) into the new energy sector by 2020 as part of efforts to expand the environmentally friendly power supply system in the country.    Under the plan, the government will not only invest 33 trillion won into renewable energy sector but 4.5 trillion won into energy storage system (ESS), 2.5 trillion won into smart meter and 2 trillion won into environmentally f date2016-07-06

Korea to invest 42 trillion won in new energy businesses by 2020

date2016-07-05

Solar Panels on School Rooftops

  In its effort to expand the renewable energy business, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced it kicked off the School Roof Solar Panel Project in which 40 million won (USD 34,267 ) would be invested towards installing solar power generating equipment on the rooftops of elementary, middle school, and high schools across the nation and operating them for 20 years.   For this objective, Korea Electric Power Corporation and seven other public electric power utilities intend to establish and complete the registration of a special purpose company called Haetbit Saessak Power Plant by the end of June, 2015.   This company will lease the rooftops of schools and then install & operate solar power equipment. The company will sell the generated electric power along with the certificate of renewable energy.   The school nets an income of 4 million won every year as a leasing fee for the rooftops. Additionally, the schools will get to use the rooftops as renewable energy experience centers.   MOTIE is considering a plan to expand the solar panel installment project to universities, government sponsored research institutions, and public agencies.   Other countries like the US, Canada, and Japan are also developing solar power generation businesses by leveraging the unused rooftop spaces in schools. date2016-06-16

Environment-Friendly Energy Towns, not NIMBY Facilities

  The government has designated 6 new areas as environment-friendly energy towns.   An environment-friendly energy town is a business model in which NIMBY facilities such as incinerators, landfills, and livestock manure treatment plants are operated in a way that can create revenues for local residents and generate new renewable energy at the same time so that issues of both environment protection and energy can be resolved.   The six new areas include Inje (Gangwon), Eumseong (Chungbuk), Boryeong (Chungnam), Wanju (Jeonbuk), Jeju, and Seosan (Chungnam). The first five areas will be administered by the Ministry of Environment and the last will be run under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).   Under the guidance from the ministries, the individual local governments will be responsible for planning and executing the project to build the environment-friendly energy towns in their regions, which will be completed in two or three years.   date2016-06-09

South Korea and Qatar to Promote Bilateral Cooperation in Energy-Related New Industries

      The Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Qatar plan to expand their bilateral cooperation beyond traditional areas such as energy and construction to include new growth engines such as energy-related new industries.   Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick attended the Third ROK-Qatar Strategic Consultation Meeting of High-Level Officials on promoting bilateral cooperation in Doha, Qatar, this week. date2015-12-16

Power supply to be stabilized for this Winter with over 12 million kW in power reserve

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 10 that power supply may be stabilized for this winter with power reserves of around 12.21 million kW, which is about 3.85 million kW more than the last winter.     According to the ministry's forecast, the expected power consumption this winter is 81 million kW, or 390,000 kW more than the winter of last year. Thanks to new power generators, the maximum power supply capacity will increase by 3.85 million kW to 93.21 million kW.     With this, power reserves are expected at around 12.21 million kW --- enough to ensure stable power supply unless the weather is abnormally cold, a large generator shuts down or the power cables break.     The Ministry said that it has emergency plans to make sure power supply is stabilized even in case of an accident.     The ministry has conducted special inspections on power plants, transmission and transformer facilities that greatly affect power supply in case of a failure.     It has also secured 4.21 million kW of power reserve by opening a resource consumption trade market to promote voluntary reduction of power consumption and using the electricity generated through test runs of new generators to be in service from early next year.     Additional 3 million kW is also reserved through voltage reduction, maximum operation of privately-owned generators and emergency power-saving in preparation for unexpected power shortage.     * Short version   date2015-12-10

South Korea and Czech Republic Sign MoU on Nuclear Cooperation

      South Korea and the Czech Republic signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on nuclear power last week.   Korea's Deputy Energy Minister Chung Yang-ho and Czech Vice Trade and Industry Minister Lenka Kovacovska attended the signing ceremony in Prague. date2015-12-08

Korean government to increase the number of eco-friendly cars to one million by 2020

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced the "3rd Master Plan for the Development and Supply of Eco-Friendly Cars" on December 08. Here are the details:     A total of 80,000 eco-friendly cars were produced this year, and the number will increase to 920,000 in 2020. The number of imported eco-friendly cars will also increase from 50,000 to 640,000 in the same year.     Currently there are 180,000 eco-friendly cars in Korea, and the plan is to increase the number to 1.08 million by 2020. This means that 20 percent of the entire volume of cars will be eco-friendly.     The plan also includes securing technological competitiveness to improve the price competitiveness of eco-friendly cars from 44 percent to 72 percent, and technological level from 93 percent to 96 percent in comparison with other advanced countries.     To achieve these goals, MOTIE came up with the three following strategies:     1. Develop competitive eco-friendly cars     Invest a total of 150 billion($ 132 million) in R&D over a period of 5 years with the aim to improve the performance of core parts in order overcome the limitations of eco-friendly cars such as short driving range and high price.     Improve the performance of batteries and other important parts to improve the performance and driving range by 2.5 times, and shave off the price of hydrogen vehicles by more than 40 percent by using new materials and developing new high pressure vessels.     2. Expand low cost and high efficiency infrastructure     Build 1,400 public EV charging stations and 80 hydrogen charging stations by 2020 to make it easier for eco-friendly car owners to charge their car.     Also build "Fusion Charging Stations" with gas, CNC and hydrogen charging stations in order to reduce the cost of building hydrogen charging stations, which cost about KRW3 billion won to build. In addition, build "Module Charging Stations" by making the charging parts in modules for space efficiency. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to run test projects from 2016.     3. Build social infrastructure for using eco-friendly cars     Offer subsidies to people wishing to buy eco-friendly cars, build charging stations and offer operating subsidies by 2020.     In 2016, the subsidies are 27.5 million won for hydrogen cars, 12 million won for EV's, 5 million won for PHV's and 1 million won for HV's     Specify the management system for EV charging business and propose a hydrogen pricing guideline in order to promote related industries to help ensure profits for both the eco-friendly car owners and charging station owners.     Offer a reasonable price for charging EV's at public charging stations, which are currently provided for free, in order to establish a more stable basis for users, and reduce the hydrogen price by purchasing in large quantities.     New systems are also on the way.     EV car parking spaces will be mandatory in new apartment buildings to make it easier to install charging stations, and issue different license plates for EV's.     Also, buildings installed with an EV charging station will be given Green Building Certificate Points, and EV tuning businesses will receive support.     * Short version date2015-12-08