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2 weeks ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
The South Korean government has designated seven regions, including Jeju Island and Haenam in South Jeolla Province, as distributed energy zones, granting them regulatory exemptions and access to lower electricity rates. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Wednesday that it held a working committee meeting on distributed energy zones and selected seven out of 11 applicant local governments as final candidates.
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2 weeks ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
South Korea’s state-run power utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) is pushing to jointly construct power grids and social infrastructure (SOC) with local governments, to ease residential resistance and speed up delayed grid projects. The move comes amid growing resistance from residents in cities including Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, which has stalled permit approvals for a project to build an electrical substation despite a favorable ruling from an administrative committee in December 2024.
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3 weeks ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
China’s aggressive purchases of “black mass” in South Korea are straining the country’s battery recycling industry, driving up raw material costs and forcing some domestic recyclers to consider exiting the market. Black mass, or the powdery residue of shredded used batteries, is a critical input for manufacturing cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries.
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3 weeks ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Yu Jun-ho |Han Yubin
South Korea’s state-run power utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) reported its strongest first-quarter earnings since 2016, driven by electricity rate hikes and declining international fuel prices. KEPCO announced on Tuesday that it posted an operating profit of 3.75 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in the first quarter, up 188.9 percent from the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 4 percent year-on-year to 2.22 trillion won.
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3 weeks ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
With the final round of tariff negotiations with the United States set for July, South Korea is taking steps to address the U.S. concerns of trade imbalance by boosting energy imports from the U.S.Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) plans to replace 6 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude with U.S. light crude at its oil reserve base in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. The replacement involves triple the volume from previous years.
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1 month ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Yu Jun-ho |Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
The signing of a final contract between South Korea’s Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) and Czech electricity firm CEZ to build a new nuclear power plant has been put on hold. On Wednesday, CEZ held a press conference following a court decision blocking contract conclusion. Its Chief Executive Officer Daniel Benes said that CEZ will appeal against the court injunction preventing it from signing the $18 billion deal with the KHNP.
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1 month ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
South Korea has designated Yeosu City as an area in need of state-level support, citing a sharp decline in the local petrochemical sector driven by global oversupply from low-cost Chinese imports, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Thursday. The second largest city in South Jeolla Province is home to major petrochemical facilities and has been significantly impacted by weakening industry conditions.
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1 month ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
South Korea will raise train ticket cancellation fees on weekends and public holidays starting next month in a bid to deter last-minute cancellations and improve seat turnover, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Saturday. Under revised regulations announced by the ministry, Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail) and SR Corp. cancellation charges for trains departing from Fridays to Sundays and on public holidays will be up to double the current rates.
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2 months ago | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
A transmission line that faced lengthy pushback was finally built after a 21-year wait to provide around 1.2 gigawatts of electricity to cities in South Chungcheong Province, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The transmission line between northern Dangjin and western Asan will deliver 1.3GW of electricity from a thermal power plant on the west coast to areas in South Chungcheong Province and southern Gyeonggi Province.
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Feb 25, 2025 | 
pulse.mk.co.kr | Shin Yoo-geoung |Han Yubin
A conflict between South Korea’s state-owned electricity and nuclear power producers over additional construction costs for the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has escalated as negotiations fail to reach a resolution. According to industry sources on Monday, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) is considering bringing the dispute to international arbitration. Initially, the two companies had agreed to complete negotiations within a given time.
