Kepco to build more grids to meet demand from renewable energy facilities

Korea Power Corp. (Kepco) will construct power grids in regions where renewable energy facilities are expected to be built, including the counties of Shinan and Yeonggwang in South Jeolla. Province.

Kepco has been implementing a policy since October 2016 of guaranteeing access to power grids for renewable energy facilities of 1 megawatt or smaller.

However, the concentration of 14.4 gigawatts of renewable energy facilities in specific regions resulted in power grid shortages of 4.2 gigawatts.

According to a Kepco official, the state-run utility will address the shortage of 3.2 gigawatts by next year.

It would further solve the shortage of 1 gigawatt by shortening the construction period of substations from six years to three years and increasing grid access limits from 10 megawatts to 12 megawatts.

Kepco will also apply different calculation methods when allocating grids.

According to Kepco, as renewable energy facilities rarely utilize 100 percent of the grid capacity, it will now only assign 70 percent capacity.

In its example, Kepco said that 10-megawatt solar farms would only be allocated a grid capacity of 7 megawatts as seldom reach maximum power output.