Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Minister Joo makes on-site trip to power plant to inspect power supply in summer

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyunghwan (center) made an unexpected on-site visit in the afternoon of July 15 to the headquarters of West Incheon/New Incheon Power Plant in order to ensure a stable supply of electricity during the high-demand summer season and flawless operation of the facilities. He asked the power plant staff to do their best to provide electricity to businesses and households in the area without glitches or accidents during the summer peak season, and expressed his date2016-07-16

Vice Minister Woo co-chairs new energy industry council meeting

   Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Woo Taehee (second from right) co-chaired the 11th meeting of the new energy industry council in Seoul on July 15, with more than 30 energy industry leaders  including professor Kim Hee-jip of Seoul National University participating. The council discussed key issues for the development of the new energy industry. The Vice Minister said the government will promote the energy big data industry and accelerate efforts to ease regu date2016-07-15

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