The government has implemented unripe policies to expand the supply of solar power and wind power, and if side effects occur one after another, it is being repeatedly collected. It is typical to cut most of the subsidies given to solar power plants that have installed ESS (energy storage devices) starting next year. The amount of blood tax wasted in this way was estimated to reach up to several hundred billion won.
“The government only damages the industry because of the wrong system design”
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 28th, the weight of the new renewable energy supply certificate (REC) for solar power plants with new ESS installations from January next year will be lowered from 4.0 to ‘0’. REC is a kind of policy subsidy given to electricity produced by renewable energy such as solar and wind power. The higher the weight, the more subsidies can be received.
The Ministry of Industry explained that the reason for the sharp cut in subsidies was “because some cases of system abuse occurred”. However, there are criticisms in the energy industry that “the problem is that the system is designed incorrectly from the beginning.
Power plants with ESS installed can store solar power produced during the day and use or sell them at night. For this reason, from 2017, the government gave the highest level of subsidies (REC weighted 5.0) in proportion to the amount of ESS attached to solar power plants. This is because ESS can compensate for the shortcomings of photovoltaic power generation, which is jagged.
The problem is that it is advantageous for the operator to store and discharge as much solar and wind power as possible in the ESS. Accordingly, power plants that take subsidies as their main business, such as installing ESSs that are three times more than the solar power generation capacity, have started. During the daytime when electricity consumption is high, solar electricity is intactly stored in the ESS, and inefficiency has occurred in selling it at night when demand is low.
According to Rep. Yoon Young-seok, the total capacity of ESS installed in Korea as of the end of August was about 7.1GW. This is close to half of the total renewable energy capacity (15.8GW) last year. An official from the Ministry of Industry said, “Over-investment has occurred in ESS.”
Since 2015, the subsidies for these power plants were estimated at 7157 billion won. This includes installation subsidies (19.5 billion won), special discount on electricity bills of KEPCO (482.2 billion won), and REC subsidies (214 billion won). Rep. Yun said, “Hundreds of billions of dollars of taxes were wasted completely inconsistent with the original purpose of compensating for the shortcomings of new and renewable energy and stabilizing the supply and demand of electricity. Most of this is estimated to have gone to solar power companies who sought subsidies. “He emphasized.
How long will the government’solar cruelty’ continue?
The government is making every effort to overcome the environmental characteristics of Korea, where it is difficult to do solar and wind power. Korea has a poor environment for renewable energy generation compared to countries with large lands such as the United States and China as well as the European Union (EU). △There are many mountains, △Continental climate, so the four seasons are more pronounced, so it is affected by the weather a lot.
However, side effects often occur due to poor system design. ‘Mountain solar power’ is representative. In order to follow the global trend of reducing greenhouse gases and expanding renewable energy, more than 70% of the country’s land is mountainous, so solar power must be installed in mountains. However, there have been cases of cutting down trees and installing solar power while setting the subsidy level too high. Although the government has announced supplementary measures several times, solar power in mountainous areas has already been recognized as synonymous with damage to the landscape and environment caused by sunlight.
A similar example is the policy of subsidizing mushroom cultivation or installing solar power on the roof of a barn. The purpose of installing solar power in the remaining space is to provide subsidies, but abuse is frequent. According to the ‘2019 RPS (renewable energy supply compulsory system) follow-up management promotion results report’ data released by the Korea Energy Agency this year, 98 out of 187 solar power plants surveyed in September-November last year were more subsidies. It turned out to be disguised for the sake of. The government belatedly decided to strengthen related inspections and supplement the system.
Some point out that the sudden reduction of ESS subsidies is another’unreasonable measure’. ESS SMEs recently argued in their appeals titled’ESS REC-related’, “Even though ESS expansion is essential to the government’s renewable energy promotion policy, SMEs that have invested a lot of money as the government cut subsidies are in danger of death.” One ESS parts supplier criticized, “Even if there is a side effect, we should have lowered the subsidy step by step in consideration of the continuity of the government’s policy?”
Rep. Yoon Young-seok emphasized, “After rushing to implement various solar power supply measures without sufficiently reviewing the potential for abuse of the system, an enormous amount of blood tax is wasted,” and emphasized, “From now on, a careful review is necessary before implementing a new supply expansion policy.”
Reporter Seong Soo-young [email protected]