Korean climate tech firms urge power market reform for DER compensation
Four climate tech companies and Climate Solution jointly held a press conference urging for the swift reform of Korea's outdated power market system to accommodate renewable energy expansion and grid stability.
Our take
Can battery storage and VPPs earn from ancillary services in Korea yet?
Mainland Korean battery storage and VPPs are not yet paid for their speed in ancillary services, which are priced on generator fuel cost, and the mainland extension of the Jeju pilot has no new date.
The industry letter rests on the Jeju pilot, where storage and VPP resources have handled forecasting and control since 2024, but it is a request from four companies and an NGO, not a government step. A published market reform roadmap with a new ancillary-service payment basis would change this answer.
For investors — Merchant storage investors and optimisers should leave mainland ancillary-service revenue out of base cases until the payment basis changes, and use Jeju results as the only tested reference.
VPP operators and aggregators should track real-time market expansion, a new ancillary-service payment basis and market eligibility for storage and VPPs, the conditions the letter names for a mainland business case.
Watch: Continued advocacy by climate tech companies and advocacy groups for power market reform, specifically concerning the compensation of flexible energy resources.
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