As the government is set to conduct bidding for the second energy storage system (ESS) central contract market, it raised the score for the non-price evaluation criterion of "fire and facility safety" by 3 points from the previous level. The increase is larger than the boost for grid interconnection and industrial and economic contribution among the non-price evaluation criteria. Analysts said awareness of ESS battery fires has grown since the National Information Management Institute fire.
According to the battery industry on the 18th, the Korea Power Exchange held the first briefing for businesses on the second ESS central contract market the previous day. At the event, the Korea Power Exchange unveiled a revised scoring table that differs from the first ESS central contract market bidding.
The ESS central contract market bidding evaluates price and non-price sections and awards the project to the bidder with the highest total score. In the first ESS central contract market bidding, price evaluation and non-price evaluation accounted for 60% and 40%, respectively. This time, however, the weights for price evaluation and non-price evaluation were adjusted equally to 50% each.
The change in the weights of price and non-price evaluations reflects industry feedback that the price weight was too large. An official at the Korea Power Exchange said, "We adjusted the weights for price and non-price evaluations by reconciling the first bidding results with industry requests."
Above all, among the non-price evaluation criteria, fire and facility safety was allocated 25 points, up 3 points from the previous 22 points. When evaluating fire and facility safety, reviewers look at whether fire prevention plans are appropriate, whether fire response plans are appropriate, and whether the system is not vulnerable to fire.
In addition, among the non-price evaluation criteria, grid interconnection and industrial and economic contribution were each raised by 1 point from 24 to 25. In contrast, technological capability and resident acceptance and project readiness were lowered by 2 points from the first central contract market bidding, to 14 points and 8 points, respectively. Project credibility was also reduced by 1 point to 3 points.
Multiple battery industry officials said, "In the industry, we had expected fire-related scoring to rise after the National Resource fire," and added, "It is highly likely that bidders will propose using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are relatively resistant to fire."
The ESS central contract market bidding is a project to supply 23 gigawatts (GW) of ESS nationwide by 2038 under the government's 11th Basic Plan for Long-term Electricity Supply and Demand. The first ESS central contract market bidding has been completed for 540 megawatts (MW) of ESS needed in 2026. The second ESS central contract bidding targets 540 MW of ESS required in 2027. Bidding will begin at the end of this month, and the preferred negotiation partner is scheduled to be announced in Feb. 2026.