South Korea expands renewable Energy monitoring rules
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South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) will require renewable energy installations as small as 20 kW, including solar, wind, and fuel-cell facilities, to have real-time monitoring and remote-control systems starting in 2027.
The MCEE revised regulations on September 4 to include business-use and electricity-trading installations of that size, giving operators better insight into energy output and the ability to adjust generation during grid problems.
Previously, operators paid all costs for monitoring and control systems, which became especially expensive in remote areas requiring wired connections and lengthy setup through Korea Electric Power Corp.’s (Kepco) network. The MCEE now allows these facilities to connect via commercial 4G LTE networks instead of Kepco’s system. The ministry projects this change will significantly lower costs, from roughly $3,420 to about $1,400 per installation, and reduce commissioning time from 84 to 10 days.
This expanded mandate builds on a program that began in 2020 on Jeju Island, initially requiring monitoring for installations of 100 kW or more. The MCEE plans to continue modernizing the grid to support a substantial increase in renewable energy capacity, aiming for 100 GW by 2030.
