Ministry of Industry: "Timely Construction of East Coast-Capital Region Transmission Lines... Promotion of System Stabilization Facilities and Institutional Enhancements"

East Coast Region Power System Council

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 5th that it held the 'East Coast Regional Power System Council' together with Gangwon Province, Gyeongbuk Province, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and the Korea Power Exchange to discuss timely construction plans for the power grid and measures to ease generation constraints in order to promptly resolve power system issues in the East Coast region.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is currently operating regional power system councils to share the status of increasingly frequent regional power system issues with the government, local governments, and public institutions, and to seek customized response measures for each region. This council is the second one following the Gwangju-Jeonnam council held in March.

In the East Coast region, generation constraints have occurred due to a lack of transmission lines to transport the region’s power generation capacity to other areas. The East Coast?Capital Area transmission line, which will resolve the power grid shortage in the East Coast region, had seen no construction progress since its planning in 2008; however, construction has begun sequentially starting with power development approval in 2023. In February of this year, power development approvals for 11 transmission line sections (7 in the eastern section and 4 in the western section) were completed, and on-time completion by 2026 is being pursued.

At the meeting, the Ministry requested reasonable cooperation from local governments regarding permits for temporary use of mountain areas and development activities for access roads and worksite sites needed for transmission tower installation to ensure timely completion of the power grid.

Additionally, the Ministry shared measures to ease generation constraints in the East Coast region, promoted through the 'Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy?KEPCO?KPX East Coast Constraint Relief Task Force (TF)' established in September 2022, and discussed plans to promote power purchase agreements (PPAs) to alleviate transmission constraints.

Lee Ok-heon, Director of Power Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated, "Timely construction of the power grid is of utmost importance to resolve power system issues. Especially in the East Coast region, where long-distance transmission lines passing through multiple basic local governments are planned, active cooperation and support from metropolitan local governments are necessary. We will continue to communicate to resolve regional power system issues."

Meanwhile, following this East Coast council, the Ministry plans to form a council for the Jeju region, where power system issues have arisen, to discuss customized measures.