The government said on the 21st it will establish a "power supervision agency" as early as the first half of next year to oversee and monitor the stable operation of the domestic power grid and power market. As grid management grows more unstable with a rising share of highly volatile renewable generation, the plan is to upgrade grid technical standards and establish market order through an independent body.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment electricity committee said on the 22nd it will hold a "forum for innovation in power governance" with the Korea Energy Agency (KEA), Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), and the power exchange, and discuss amendments to the Electric Utility Act to launch the power supervision agency. The government's policy is to have the power exchange and Korea Electric Power Corporation focus solely on grid operation and electric utility business, while assigning monitoring and supervision to the power supervision agency.
According to the ministry, the power supervision agency is expected to take on the role of integrating the grid technical standards that are currently operated by each ministry and agency. These standards are now scattered across ▲ the ministry notice "standards for maintaining power system reliability and power quality" ▲ the power exchange's "market and system operation rules" ▲ Korea Electric Power Corporation's "transmission and distribution network utilization standards."
The power supervision agency will also look into whether power companies are complying with these quality standards. It will monitor whether public operators such as Korea Electric Power Corporation have installed grid facilities in line with relevant rules, and whether private power operators are complying with requirements such as submitting output data. The number of market participants rose from 19 in 2001 to about 8,000 this year.
In addition, the power supervision agency will be responsible for power data management. Demand for power data is growing with the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), but definitions, classification systems, and disclosure cycles vary by institution, reportedly hampering smooth management and training.