Korea weighs shifting power grid investment to location-leading model
A forum proposed a simultaneous innovation in planning, execution, and cost-sharing systems for the power grid, shifting the focus from 'what to build' to 'who pays'.
Our take
Will Korea shift grid costs onto large new loads, and does that help flexibility providers?
Korea has not shifted grid costs onto large new loads, as cost-causation charging is so far a forum proposal, and flexibility providers would gain only if tariffs come to reflect grid cost and location.
KEPCO's grid planning head put new demand such as the Honam chip cluster at 24.6 GW, so pressure to settle who pays is real. What decides it is whether the three legislative items proposed at the forum, including cost sharing by cost causation, reach a bill.
For investors — VPP operators and aggregators should read the industry's call for a government roadmap with timing and compensation for VPPs and storage as a list of what is missing, not of what is coming.
Data centre developers should not price site choices on cost-causation grid charges until a bill is drafted.
Watch: The proposal at the 'Energy New Technology and Business National Assembly Forum' to shift from a demand-following to a location-leading power grid development model.
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