Republic of Korea

Highlights in 2019
Highlights in 2019

 

Impact of your national clean energy innovation activity

Establishing an Energy Transition Roadmap to expand the power generation ratio of renewable energy (October 2017).

The government plans to implement 3020 renewable energy schemes including the expansion of public participation and improvement of supply conditions to achieve 20% of the renewable energy generation ratio in 2030.

Announcement to promote a Hydrogen Economy Energy Roadmap to build a hydrogen industry ecosystem based on hydrogen cars and fuel cells.


Update on clean energy innovation policies and strategies

The main point of the 3rd Basic Energy Plan is to transform the energy consumption system of the supply-oriented into a high-efficiency and low-consumption structure through the innovation of the consumption structure.

The government target is to foster new industry/service and create jobs in the energy sector, by solving procurement matters and fulfilling the obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement while maintaining stable energy supply and demand.

Five Major Challenges:

  1. Strengthen demand management – 38% improvement in consumption efficiency and an 18.6% reduction in demand over 2017.
  2. Transition to clean and safe energy mix – Increase the proportion of renewable energy generation by 30 to 35% by 2040.
  3. Expansion of distributed and participatory energy systems – Distributed power expansion and power prosumer expansion, etc.
  4. Strengthening the global competitiveness of the energy industry – Promoting future energy industries such as renewable energy
  5. Expansion of the Foundation for Energy Conversion – Building an energy big data platform and improving the power market system, etc.

Major innovation initiatives and programmes in 2019/20

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) plans to continue to increase investment related to energy technology development.

In 2019, the government invested $651 million to develop energy technologies to strengthen the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies, industries, and market.

Through the development of energy technology, Korea achieved the world’s highest efficiency in next-generation solar cells, succeeded in localization of 270MW large gas turbines, and developed 10 times the efficiency of particulate matter gathering in thermal power plants.

The government plans to invest $774 million in energy technology development in 2020


Private sector engagement in 2019/20

2019 Investment Road Show

The Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (as below ‘KETEP’) and the Venture Capital Association promotes the Investment Road Show program for SME in 2019.

Through evaluation, small and medium-sized enterprises were selected. KETEP supports investment attraction strategies, consulting, and investment counselling.

The Investment Road Show has successfully attracted a total of $10 million over the past two years and is also promoting a program to link domestic and foreign investment institutions belonging to the Council of Foreign Investment Institutions.

Energy Convergence Complex Plan

The MOTIE plans to designate the Energy Convergence Complexes in Saemangeum district and Gwangju/ South Jeolla area. It could simultaneously promote regional decentralization and fostering new industries, one of the key Energy Transition policies, in November 2019.

Energy convergence complex: A cluster consisting of energy-specialized companies, research institutes, universities, support agencies, energy public enterprises, energy supply facilities (such as power plants), demonstration, and testing facilities to promote the aggregation and convergence of the energy industry and related industries.


Major activities in support of the Innovation Challenges in 2019/20

The Republic of Korea has been participating in the Innovation Challenge, a group of experts in clean energy technology, since November 2016 to clarify the implementation of mission innovation.

At the 4th MI Ministerial meeting in Canada, Korea declared its participation in the Hydrogen IC and participated in 6 of the total 8 ICs.

The KETEP funds MI-oriented international joint research projects from Dec 2018 to Jan 2021. The budget is around $1 million per project every year. This is delivered in cooperation with the USA, Canada, Germany, and India. KETEP funds a total of eight projects in the field of innovation challenges and conducting various activities such as joint workshops, manpower dispatch, joint thesis discussion, research sample exchange, and demonstration plant visits.


National plans and priorities for clean energy innovation

The 4th Energy Technology Development Plan

The MOTIE announced the 4th Energy Technology Development Plan in 2019 which includes the vision, goals, and R&D investment strategies for the next 10 years.

The Korean government has effectively supported Energy Transition and presented a key strategy for the mid/long-term energy policy goals under the vision of becoming an energy technology powerhouse for leading new industries over the world.

16 major energy-focused technologies, including solar energy, wind power, hydrogen, etc, are presented to promote the main point of the basic energy plan. Also, 50 tasks are drawn up according to the technology Roadmap of each field.


New Collaboration

MI Joint Call on Clean Energy Technologies
Canada, Germany, India, US
Korea launches a program to support all MI Innovation Challenges with annual funding. To participate in the program, researchers of member countries with partnered Korean researchers can apply with any subject related to any IC. The focus of this program is to support activate participation on ICs and enhance their outcomes.
Sectors: public-private
Type of collaboration: research and development
Start date: 2018
End date: 2020