With South Korea’s electricity demand expected to grow 30% by 2035, transitioning to clean energy resources will be critical in reducing the electric sector emissions and achieving national climate goals. Rapid technological improvements can help keep costs low and maintain grid reliability, if Korea’s government takes a coordinated approach to the clean energy transition. This policy brief identifies key barriers to Korea’s shift toward clean energy, based on the authors’companion report (A Clean Energy Korea by 2035: Transitioning to 80% Carbon-Free Electricity Generation), interviews with experts, and the most recent data and literature. It then explores policy solutions for overcoming these technological, economic, and institutional barriers, and suggests market transformation strategies to speed the adoption of clean energy technologies. Amid ongoing cost and technological improvements in wind, solar, and energy storage, advancing this report’s recommended policy actions with maximum coordination among government officials can meaningfully accelerate Korea’s clean energy transition.
Abstract With South Korea’s electricity demand expected to grow 30% by 2035, transitioning to clean energy resources will be critical in reducing the electric sector emissions and achieving national climate goals. Rapid technological improvements can help keep costs low and maintain grid reliability, if Korea’s government takes a coordinated approach to the clean energy transition. This policy brief identifies key barriers to Korea’s shift toward clean energy, based on the authors’ companion report (A Clean Energy Korea by 2035: Transitioning to 80% Carbon-Free Electricity Generation), interviews with experts, and the most recent data and literature. It then explores policy solutions for overcoming these technological, economic, and institutional barriers, and suggests market transformation strategies to speed the adoption of clean energy technologies. Amid ongoing cost and technological improvements in wind, solar, and energy storage, advancing this report’s recommended policy actions with maximum coordination among government officials can meaningfully accelerate Korea’s clean energy transition. Authors: Won Young Park1*, Nina Khanna1, James Hyungkwan Kim1, Kenji Shiraishi1,2, Nikit Abhyankar1,2, Umed Paliwal1,2, Jiang Lin1,2, and Amol Phadke1,2 1 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States of America 2 University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
Hee Seung Moon3, Yong Hyun Song3, Eunsung Kim3, Sanghyun Hong3, Yunsik Chung3, and Seung Wan Kim3,4* 3 NEXT Group, Republic of Korea 4 Chungnam National University, Republic of Korea * corresponding author |