Lawmaker urges Korea Expressway Corp to revise solar plan, adopt local consumption
Lawmaker Bok Ki-wang urged Korea Expressway Corporation on October 8 to revise its annual 15 MW solar expansion plan, which would take 33 years to utilize all sites. He proposed adopting a 'local production for local consumption' model for 77 highway service areas facing grid connection issues, a plan KEC's President agreed to review.
Our take
Is on-site self-consumption a way around grid connection limits for solar in Korea?
For public sites such as highway service areas it can be: using the power on site avoids the connection queue that blocks 77 of them, but this is a lawmaker's proposal that the operator has only agreed to review, not a funded programme.
The case for it is practical: on-site use needs no grid reinforcement, and the lawmaker sized the investment at under 10% of the operator's net profit spread over five years. The case against is that nothing is committed yet, the proposal has the operator building the plants itself rather than tendering them, and output is limited to what each service area consumes. Until the revised solar plan is published, this is a policy signal for self-consumption on public land rather than a project pipeline.
What the source says
- Bok Ki-wang Lawmaker Bok Ki-wang (Democratic Party of Korea, Asan-gap, Chungcheongnam-do) raised these points during the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's national audit on October 8.
- Korea Expressway Corporation is currently pursuing a plan to expand solar power generation facilities by 15 MW annually.
- Bok Ki-wang Bok Ki-wang emphasized that if the current plan proceeds, it would take 33 years to utilize all available sites, urging KEC to revise its plan to achieve solar installation targets by 2030.
- Yoo Jeong-hoon KEC President Yoo Jeong-hoon acknowledged the existing plan's shortcomings, stating it was established before his tenure, and committed to revising it.
- Out of 163 highway service areas obligated to install solar power, only 35 have completed installations.
- Among the 128 service areas without solar installations, 77 face difficulties securing grid connections.
- Bok Ki-wang Bok Ki-wang proposed that KEC directly install solar power and consume the generated electricity on-site at its own operating service areas, suggesting an investment of less than 10% of KEC's net profit spread over 5 years would be sufficient.
- Yoo Jeong-hoon KEC President Yoo Jeong-hoon responded that KEC would actively consider the 'local production for local consumption' model for management efficiency.
For investors — Solar developers and EPC contractors: the proposal has Korea Expressway Corporation investing directly, so check whether its revised plan allows third-party ownership, leasing or EPC tenders before counting these sites as a pipeline.
Watch: Korea Expressway Corporation's announcement of a revised solar expansion plan and detailed implementation strategy for 'local production for local consumption' at highway service areas.
Weekly digest
What changed in Korea's power market this week — one email, every week.
Email only, used solely to send this digest (delivered via Resend). Unconfirmed sign-ups are deleted after 30 days. Free.