“Renewables are not failing to scale because of technology or cost; they are being choked out by the grid itself.” That was the blunt verdict of Gahee Han, power market and grid head at the South Korean group Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), at a workshop in Bangkok on Monday, October 5.
The workshop gathered civil society organisations from South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, according to Reccessary. Their purpose was to compare experiences with connecting renewable power to the grid and to map shared barriers. Asia Financial reported SFOC’s argument that many Asian nations are lagging in the energy transition because of outdated power systems and rules that still favour fossil fuel generation. All of this is the group’s account, not a finding by any government or regulator.
Rich countries, same problem
The surprise, in SFOC’s telling, is that wealthy economies are among those accused of limiting fair grid access. South Korea and Japan have the money to invest in grid infrastructure, yet participants argued they are lagging because of market rules. Han said it was surprising to see East Asia and Southeast Asia sharing a core problem: unequal grid access that leaves fossil-fuel generation protected while renewables face delays or curtailment.
The backdrop is a scramble for electricity. Asian governments are speeding up electrification and expanding renewables as demand grows from AI data centres and manufacturing.
The South Korean example
SFOC pointed to South Korea, where President Lee Jae Myung’s government has an “Energy Highway” initiative and plans to expand renewable capacity to more than 100 GW by 2030. More wires may not be enough, the group argued. In Chungcheong Province, home to half of the country’s coal fleet, offshore wind is being pursued to replace aging coal plants, but grid access is not expected until at least 2032.
The group said the case reflects a conflict of interests. The state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) acts as a gatekeeper for grid access, SFOC said, and also has subsidiaries that generate power from fossil fuels and nuclear energy. With no independent regulator, Han said, new gas plants and nuclear are guaranteed grid access while renewable projects wait in the queue. Fossil plants are also guaranteed high minimum output, which adds to renewable curtailment and takes up grid capacity.
Han also blamed obsolete queue management, saying outdated rules let fossil-fuel projects and “paper developers” hoard transmission capacity while ready-to-build solar and wind projects sit on waiting lists. Markets that would reward storage and other flexible resources remain limited, she said, because a mainland rollout of Korea’s market design reform has been pushed back to around 2030.
SFOC’s call: reform biased grid access alongside new transmission investment, and tackle the conflicts of interest in the power sector over the longer term.
Sources
- 'Power Grid Inequity Hindering Asian States' Shift to Renewables'
- Grid access barriers are holding back renewable energy in Asia | NEWS | Reccessary
