[2020 National Audit] "Issues with Korea Energy Agency's Solar Power Localization Rate Standards"..."Lack of Detail"

Kim Chang-seop, President of Korea Energy Agency. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] On the 20th, during the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee's audit, concerns were raised about the standards for the localization rate of solar power components managed by the Korea Energy Agency.

Han Mookyung, a member of the People Power Party, questioned, "The U.S. Customs Service recognizes a product as domestic only if the domestic input cost ratio reaches 85%. Does the Korea Energy Agency consider solar modules and ingots made domestically as domestic products?"

Kim Changseop, Director of the Energy Agency, responded, "It is true that we judged localization based on the KS standard for solar modules."

Rep. Han pointed out, "The public believes that the localization rate of solar power components is very high at 78.4%. However, unlike polysilicon, ingots, and wafers, the import volume of solar cells is rapidly increasing. It seems that we import all the cells and simply sell the modules domestically."

Director Kim replied, "We realized this time that there was a lack of practical detail in producing localization rate statistics by only looking at KS standards for solar power components. There may have been aspects where we prioritized convenient and favorable information at the time, which we now reflect upon."

He added, "We will discuss this thoroughly in the overall context of the Global Value Chain (GVC)."

Rep. Han stated, "The government must take responsibility for providing distorted information to the public."