South Korea’s state-owned power company Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) may be permitted to generate power for the first time in twenty years as long as the electricity is produced by renewable sources.
The Korean government has banned KEPCO from generating and selling power since 2001 to prevent monopoly in the energy market. Eyeing on KEPCO’s ability to attract investment, a Korean lawmaker has proposed a bill to enable the state utility firm to produce power directly again.
The proposal comes after the Korean government pledged to increase wind and solar power capacity target from 12.7 GW in 2019 to 26.3 GW and 42.7 GW by 2025 under the Green New Deal.
Wind InfoLink Opinion:
KEPCO’s entry into power generation would be good news to Korean’s offshore wind sector that needs large capital investment. However, to prevent the renewable energy certificate (REC) prices from dropping further due to oversupply, the Korean government should strengthen its Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) policy target, such as expanding either the mandatory renewable power ratio or the definition of applicable users.
Reference :
Korea may let KEPCO generate power directly, but only from renewable sources