South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said it will fully implement regulations that allow domestic power users to purchase electricity from renewable energy producers through power purchase agreements (PPAs).
The plan was originally announced in January 2021. In order to encourage renewable energy trading in buildings, the South Korean government said it will now offer projects over 300 kW in size to enter the PPA market. The size threshold of the old regulations used to be 1 MW.
Under the so-called K-RE100 scheme, state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) will act as an intermediary between sellers and buyers. Before the scheme, consumers could only buy electricity from the national electricity company.
South Korean liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier SK E&S secured the country's first PPA in March from Seoul-based Amorepacific, which will be powered by a 5 MW renewable power plant operated by SK E&S at an undisclosed location. Power supply will start in the fourth quarter of this year. As of December 2021, SK E&S has 1.3 GW of installed solar capacity in operation and development.
In early August, SK Specialty agreed to buy power from 50 MW of renewable energy assets in South Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea, for the entire 2024-44 period, for an undisclosed price. The industrial group described the deal as South Korea's largest-ever renewable energy PPA, and "other subsidiaries such as SK Trichem and SK Materials Performance may soon make similar deals."
Under the K-RE100 plan, the South Korean government wants the country to be powered entirely by renewable energy by 2050.