"District Heating Energy Supply Up 31% and Industrial Complexes Up 11% by 2023"

Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy./Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will hold a public hearing to announce a basic plan to increase district heating and industrial complex collective energy by about 10-30% by 2023.

On the 19th at 3 p.m., the Ministry will hold a public hearing on the "5th Basic Plan for Collective Energy Supply (Draft) (2019-2023)" at The-K Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul, targeting stakeholders from industry, academia, and research sectors. The plan is scheduled to be finalized and announced within this month.

The basic plan for collective energy supply to be presented at the public hearing is a five-year statutory basic plan established by the Ministry based on Article 3 of the Collective Energy Business Act.

According to the law, the plan must include ▲ mid- to long-term plans for collective energy supply ▲ targets and standards for collective energy supply ▲ energy-saving goals and reduction targets for air pollutant emissions resulting from collective energy supply ▲ and other matters deemed necessary for collective energy supply.

In the 5th basic plan (draft), the supply of district heating collective energy will be increased to 4.08 million households by 2023. According to the 4th plan draft, 3.11 million households were supplied in 2018, so this represents a 31% increase.

The industrial complex collective energy is also targeted to expand from 46 sites in 2018 to 51 sites, an 11% increase.

The plan aims to promote the use of existing heat transport pipes and unused heat sources by adding heat transport pipes to the collective energy supply standards. If a main heat transport pipe is within 1 km of a development project area, regional designation review will also be possible.

Efforts will be made to build a clean and safe collective energy ecosystem. To this end, plans include ▲ replacement of outdated facilities or combined heat and power plants using bunker C oil ▲ legislation of safety management standards for heat transport pipes and establishment of a dual inspection system through on-site inspections ▲ and holding business briefings.

The Ministry expects that by successfully implementing the plan, 36.1 million TOE of energy can be saved and 102.21 million tons of greenhouse gases can be reduced by 2023. Emissions of air pollutants are also expected to decrease by 311,000 tons.