BANGKOK, October 7 — Civil society organisations say fossil fuel producers are being favoured while renewable energy producers face unequal grid access, even in countries such as Japan and South Korea. Many Asian nations are lagging in the energy transition because of outdated power systems and rules that continue to favour the generation of fossil fuels, a large civil society organisation said this week.
Despite having advanced economies and resources to invest in grid infrastructure, South Korea and Japan are among a handful of countries accused of limiting fair access to their power grids. That was the surprising revelation at a workshop given in Bangkok on Monday by Solutions for Our Climate, which examined energy integration, power grid access and market reform.
Most Asian governments are accelerating electrification and expanding in renewable energy and bolstering their power grids, in a bid to meet increasing demand from AI data centres and other business sectors. President Lee Jae Myung’s government in Seoul has a policy to create an ‘Energy Highway’ and expand renewables to more than 100 GW by 2030, however, there are concerns about such projects getting prompt access to the grid.
In Chungcheong province, where half of South Korea’s coal fleet are located, offshore wind development is being pursued as part of efforts to replace the area’s aging coal fleet, but grid access is not expected to become available until at least 2032. The state-owned utility Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) acts as a gatekeeper for grid access, creating bottlenecks for renewable energy.
Reforms to biased grid access are urgently needed alongside investment in new transmission infrastructure in Asia. Furthermore, Asia should tackle the conflict of interests deeply rooted in the power sector in the longer term. Gahee Han, power market and grid head at Solutions for Our Climate, said it’s surprising to see that East Asia and Southeast Asia are sharing core issues – unequal grid access for renewable energy – leaving fossil-fuel generation protected while renewables face delays or curtailment.
Officials noted that without changes to grid access rules, renewable energy projects risk being sidelined despite national targets. The company said grid modernization must proceed in parallel with renewable deployment to avoid stranded assets. Data shows that transmission planning cycles in the region often lag behind renewable project timelines by several years.
Looking ahead, stakeholders will monitor whether upcoming regulatory reviews in Seoul and Tokyo lead to concrete changes in grid access procedures by 2027.
