Korea's 3.5 GW Renewable Grid Backlog Faces Slow Resolution
As of May 2026, 3546 MW of renewable energy facilities in Korea await grid connection, with 64.8% concentrated in the Honam region. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) plans to resolve 3417 MW of this backlog by 2030, but this relies heavily on new substations that take an average of 74 months to build.
Our take
Can solar and wind projects in Korea's grid connection queue expect to connect before 2028?
Many projects in Korea's 3.5 GW grid queue cannot count on connecting before 2028, because two-thirds of that capacity depends on 30 new substations and 23 of those are scheduled for 2028–2030.
Those dates carry risk, since new 154 kV substations have averaged 74 months since 2021 and the completion rate for 2017–2025 transmission plans was 30.3%. The open question is whether KEPCO's plan to resolve 3,417 MW by 2030 holds.
What the source says
- The 3546 MW grid connection backlog is equivalent to approximately 3.5 nuclear power plant capacities.
- Business-use renewable energy facilities in Korea increased from 7090 MW in 2016 to 37111 MW in 2025, a more than five-fold increase.
- The achievement rate for power supply basic plan targets for renewables annually ranged from 95.2% to 115.9%.
- From 2017 to 2025, only 2202 c-km of the planned 7266 c-km of transmission and substation facilities were completed, a 30.3% completion rate.
- Only 3 out of 35 long-term distribution plan projects started in 2025 were completed, an 8.6% completion rate.
- 23 of the 30 new substations planned by KEPCO are scheduled for construction between 2028 and 2030.
- Rep. Kim Wi-sang stated that while renewable generation facilities take 1-5 years to build, grid infrastructure takes 5-15 years.
- Rep. Kim Wi-sang warned that the grid bottleneck in the Honam region, which is pursuing a semiconductor cluster, could hinder industrial investment.
For investors — Solar and wind developers should date Honam projects, which make up 64.8% of the queue, from the named substation rather than the national plan.
Lenders should tie financial close to a confirmed substation schedule and allow for delay beyond it.
Watch: Monitoring the progress and actual completion rates of KEPCO's planned substation projects, especially those scheduled for 2028-2030, and any new policy announcements addressing grid expansion timelines.
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