South Korea launches 2GW photovoltaic tender

    The Korea Energy Agency has launched two photovoltaic tenders planned this year.

    During the procurement process, the agency intends to allocate 2,050 MW among the five project categories, which is the largest amount ever tendered by South Korean authorities. The scale of the project ranges from 100 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts; Solar Power For The Home photovoltaic arrays with a capacity between 500 kW and 1 MW; solar power plants with installed power of 1 to 20 megawatts; the scale of solar parks exceeds 20 megawatts for the first time.

    According to the country's Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) program, selected projects will receive a fixed rate for a 20-year contract and will sell electricity to local distributors.

    The final result of the tender is expected to be announced on July 16, and the winning bidder should obtain the final contract in August.

    There are currently no domestic content requirements in the bidding, but starting this year, projects that rely on solar photovoltaic modules with a low carbon footprint will be given priority.

    In the two tenders held in 2020, KEA allocated 1.2 GW and 1.41 GW respectively, while in 2019, it signed contracts for 350 MW and 500 MW. In 2017 and 2018, the total allocated capacity per year was 600 MW. Overall, the South Korean authorities should tender 4 gigawatts of solar energy this year.

    As of December 2020, the country’s installed solar power capacity is approximately 15.6 GW. The newly installed photovoltaic capacity in 2020 is approximately 4.1 GW.

    South Korea currently plans to install 30.8 GW of solar energy by 2030.