South Korea has launched a climate and energy task force across eight regional environment agencies, as well as a climate and energy field response team, its climate and energy ministry Mcee announced today.
The move aligns with its government's coal phase-out target, aiming to ease bottlenecks in its renewable energy transition while expanding renewable capacity across regions.
The task force will carry out work on site, mediating local disputes and identifying region-specific projects, while the field response team will drive regulatory changes based on local feedback and support renewable project development through monthly review meetings.
In addition, Mcee, South Jeolla province, Kepco and the Korea Energy Agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate the country's shift to renewables. The four organisations will work together to promote community participation, support timely grid development and run local dispute resolution platforms.
"Renewable expansion can advance only with community participation. The regional environment agencies will work closely with local communities to help drive the country's climate and energy transition." Mcee minister Kim Sung-hwan said at the event.
Meanwhile, South Korea is aiming to expand its offshore wind capacity from the current 350MW levels to 10.5GW by 2030 and 25GW by 2035, Kim announced yesterday.
The South Korean government has pursued offshore wind development for several years, but many projects have been delayed because of limited infrastructure, permit issues and local opposition.
Market participants are paying close attention to its newly-launched teams set up to address these issues on the ground.
Separately, the government last week announced plans to increase installed onshore wind capacity from about the current level of around 2GW to 12GW by 2035.
Coal supplied 28pc of the country's power generation in January-September, while wind — including both onshore and offshore capacity — contributed just 0.6pc over the same period, according to Argus data.
