Busan, Target to achieve 40% of renewable energy power self-reliance rate by 2040

Busan, Target to achieve 40% of renewable energy power self-reliance rate by 2040 

The Busan Metropolitan Government has set a goal of achieving 40 percent of renewable energy power independence by 2040.

The Busan Metropolitan Government announced on the 13th that it has established the 6th Regional Energy Plan.

The regional energy plan is a statutory plan established every five years by the metropolitan government to efficiently achieve the basic energy plan in accordance with the Energy Act.

In its sixth plan, the city set a target of 8.5 percent in 2025 and 40 percent in 2040. As of last year, Busan's self-reliance rate on renewable energy stood at 2.62 percent.

According to the city, the regional energy plan was established as a regional-led bottom-up plan, reflecting the central government's stance on participatory decentralized energy policies following the establishment of the third basic energy plan. Local residents, civic groups and experts, including public hearings, surveys and in-depth interviews, participated in the establishment process to reflect various civic opinions.

To achieve the goal, the city has also established five major strategies: rational energy consumption and demand management, expansion of supply conversion centered on eco-friendly energy, expansion of citizen-participatory energy conversion, strengthening competitiveness through fostering new energy industries, and establishing a foundation for energy conversion.

First of all, the government will seek reasonable energy consumption and energy conservation measures for homes and buildings, including energy diagnosis and facility improvement support projects, and discover eco-friendly energy sources such as the creation of offshore wind farms utilizing abundant marine resources.

It will push for energy education for citizens and civic participation-type power generation projects to expand the energy conversion led by citizens and foster new energy industries. It plans to establish an organization for the effective implementation of energy policies and reinforce its expertise.

In addition, the government plans to set regional-tailored indicators to monitor the implementation performance steadily for enhanced tracking and evaluation in the sixth plan.

Meanwhile, the city was selected as an excellent local government in the "establishment of regional energy plans" evaluation conducted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on 17 metropolitan and provincial governments. With the selection of outstanding local governments, the city will receive additional preferential treatment in future government-backed projects.

A city official said, "It is encouraging that 17 local governments across the country have established regional energy plans at the same time for the first time and have been selected as excellent local governments. We will make efforts to ensure that the policies established for the transition to clean and safe energy are properly implemented in the future."

[Kwon Byung-suk, a reporter]