Sejong, June 24 - On June 21, the Ministry of Environment (ME, Minister Han Wha-jin) announced its plan to expand biogas and hydropower. The plan outlines the ministry's plan to double the renewable energy generation by utilizing biogas, floating solar farms, and small hydropower generation at the environmental facilities such as wastewater treatment plants, water filtration plants, and dams. The ministry aims to increase the annual energy production at environmental facilities from 3,264 GWh in 2021 to 5,764 GWh by 2026. The amount of energy will supply 1.38 million four-person households with sufficient electricity. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment intends to increase these facilities' capacity to produce energy to 8,762 GWh by 2030, which is 1,137 GWh higher than their yearly consumption of 7.625 GWh, thereby effectively rendering them to be energy producers. 

The ministry currently operates 1,341 environmental facilities nationwide. Of these, there are one hundred ten public waste resources management facilities that produce biogas. Five hundred metropolitan and local water filtration plants and 678 wastewater treatment facilities, and 37 dams are operating. These facilities can generate 1.57 GW of electricity and produce 3.264 GWh of renewable energy annually. However, at the same time, they also consume 7,625 GWh of energy annually for wastewater treatment and filtration, roughly equivalent to 2 units of a fossil power plant. Accordingly, these facilities are classified as excessive energy-consuming facilities.  

The Ministry of Environment plans to double the energy generation capacity at the environmental facilities nationwide from 1.57 GW to 3 GW by the end of the current administration (or by 2026).

Over 90% of organic wastes, including food waste, sewage sludge, and livestock excrements, were processed for animal feed and compost. To increase biogas production, the Ministry of Environment will recycle organic waste into energy. The ministry will subsidize the biomass gasification plants. The ministry plans to increase the number of biomass gasification plants from 110 to 140, which will result in a gas production rate from the current 360 million Nm3 to about 400 to 500 million Nm3, a roughly 40% increase. The amount is nearly 2% of the total domestic gas supply, lowering the annual LNG import cost by about KRW 181.2 billion and reducing 1.1 million tons of greenhouse gases by cutting down methane gas produced from wastes. One way to use biogas is to substitute it for traditional gas, heat, and electricity. Other than that, many private companies are interested in producing green hydrogen using biomethane, one of the principal components of biogas. The ministry intends to gradually increase the number of green hydrogen production facilities from the current two (Jeonju food waste biogasification facility and Changwon sewage treatment facility) to five. In addition, the ministry will invest a total of KRW 42.8 billion for five years to develop technologies for generating energy from animal and plant wastes, which are abundant in quantity but less utilized due to lack of available technology.

The Ministry of Environment intends to double the number of energy production facilities of the environmental facilities to retain their capacity to produce electricity up to 2.9 GW. By doing this, the facilities will generate 4,800 GWh of energy annually, saving an annual electricity cost of KRW 473.5 billion and reducing 700,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually until 2026. Since the module efficiency and construction techniques have significantly improved for building floating solar farms, the efficiency of energy production per area is rapidly increasing. It is expected to increase its energy production capacity up to 1.1 GW by the end of the current administration. The ministry will utilize river water and all water supply and sewage pipelines for hydrothermal energy and heat energy from wastewater, which take advantage of the difference in water temperature. We will add more than 0.3 GW to the energy production capacity and use the power to heat and cool nearby buildings. The ministry will also install small hydropower plants that use the hydraulic head in nine wastewater plants and water filtration plants, thus enhancing their energy independence.

The Ministry of Environment organized a task force for renewable energy under its Water Management Policy Office to draft policies for carbon reduction and energy independence for the environmental facilities managed by the ministry. "Each building and structure in our future society should be able to produce its own energy and cut carbon emissions," said Oh Yeong-min, Director of Renewable Energy TF. She added, "We will exert more effort to hasten these reforms' arrival."

Contact: Lee Hyung-woo, Deputy Director

Renewable Energy TF / +82-(0)44-201-6408 

Foreign Media Contact: CHUN Minjo

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr