KEPCO, South Korea's state power utility, has revealed plans to convert idle land at substations across the country into distributed solar generation sites, starting with a 1 MW pilot this year.
KEPCO has set up a dedicated task force and plans to build the initial pilot at a substation site this year, with the full 95 MW buildout to be completed by 2030. The announcement frames the initiative as a policy and asset-utilization project, without financing or procurement detail.
The utility said it has identified about 500 substation sites with land suitable for solar installations, including residual parcels and landscaping plots left over from construction.
K-RE100, South Korea's public-sector renewable energy commitment modeled on the global RE100 standard, requires 88 public institutions to raise their renewable energy use to 60% by 2030 under a government policy announced in February 2026. Compliance is incorporated as evaluation criterion for management performance.
The substation solar program therefore serves both compliance and practical purposes, according to KEPCO. It said converting tree-landscaped areas at substations in forested terrain into solar installations would physically block wildfire spread routes, for example. The company said it is also pursuing related regulatory changes with South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
KEPCO President Kim Dong-cheol said in an online statement that the 95 MW substation solar program will serve as a symbolic milestone in South Korea's energy transition and a model for public-sector K-RE100 compliance.
South Korea added more than 3.1 GW of solar capacity in 2024, according to KEPCO data. The government has separately linked a 1 GW solar tender to corporate RE100 offtakers, while other recently installed, grid-connected solar capacity includes floating PV installations at dam sites and solar arrays connected via submarine cable.
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