Press Releases

Corporate Renewable Energy Initiative (CoREi) submits proposal to the Democratic Party Policy Committee

Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Crunch Must Be Solved

Through Government-Led, PPA-Dedicated Renewable Planned Sites

 -    RE100 requirements and supply chain pressures are driving corporate PPA demand faster than supply can keep up

-   Site-securing and permitting delays call for the government to develop generation sites and link them to corporate PPAs

- Proposals include utilizing state-owned idle land for new RE generation and building a PPA-dedicated bidding market

The Corporate Renewable Energy Initiative (CoREi) has formally proposed to the Democratic Party of Korea’s Policy Committee (Chair Han Jeoung-ae) the introduction of “government-led planned renewable siting” to meet corporate demand for dedicated power purchase agreements (PPAs). As its core solutions, CoREi put forward the development of planned siting for new renewable energy generation on state-owned idle land and the introduction of a PPA-dedicated bidding market. The proposal responds to warnings that, while corporate demand for renewable energy continues to rise due to global supply-chain requirements such as RE100, supply is failing to keep pace and could escalate into an industrial crisis for Korean companies.

The proposal is particularly significant in that it aligns with the Lee Jae-myung administration’s push to expand renewable energy and goes further to discuss developments for a feasible legislative foundation. CoREi is a voluntary corporate initiative jointly established by the Korea Sustainability Investing Forum (KoSIF), the UN Global Compact Network Korea, and WWF-Korea to expand renewable energy use and improve related policies in Korea.

| Utilizing state-owned idle land and a bidding market as PPA supply solutions

Under the “government-led planned renewable siting for corporate PPA” model, the government would directly develop renewable energy generation sites and link them to corporate PPA demand. The current “individual siting” approach requires developers to handle everything themselves—from securing land and obtaining permits to resolving community acceptance—which causes project delays and rising costs, ultimately pushing up PPA prices and increasing the burden on companies. To break this vicious cycle, CoREi proposed that the government take the lead in resolving these structural problems through “government-led planned renewable siting,” fundamentally improving the PPA contracting environment.

First, the government can use state-owned idle land to develop large-scale, solar generation complexes and supply them exclusively for corporate PPAs. CoREi explained that this would dramatically reduce the enormous time and cost companies face in individually finding sites and obtaining permits, while securing community acceptance through the participation of local governments.

Furthermore, CoREi emphasized that the electricity generated in these designated zones should be linked to companies through a “PPA-dedicated bidding market” to resolve chronic supply uncertainty. By supplying generation volumes that are developed under government leadership—with reduced costs and shorter timelines—this would help stabilize prices across the entire PPA market. The expectation is that this would give companies a foundation to secure the renewable energy they need over the long term at predictable costs.

[Reference] Comparison of the features, advantages, and disadvantages of the government-led planned siting approach vs. the individual siting approach
 (from the report “A Study on Planned Renewable Siting for Activating Corporate Renewable Energy”)

CoREi added that this government-led zoning model has already been successfully proven overseas. Through its government-led “Solar Park” scheme, India increased its solar capacity 17-fold in under a decade, becoming the world’s third-largest country by installed solar capacity. It is a leading example of how quickly and dramatically renewable energy supply—the foundation of PPAs—can expand once the government resolves siting issues. In Australia, too, after the government designated Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) and provided infrastructure support in New South Wales (NSW), numerous cases were confirmed in which companies actively contracted the resulting solar power through PPAs.

[Reference] Change in India’s installed solar capacity after introducing government-led solar planned siting

| “Solar PPAs” top corporate preference, yet actual contract share is only 1%

This policy proposal stems from the recognition that, despite the Lee administration’s positive stance on expanding renewable energy, past policies have failed to keep up with reality. Notably, the 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand announced last year did not reflect corporate PPA demand, leaving a gap with the current administration’s policy goals. The industry believes the renewable energy share by 2030 should be raised to at least 33–40%.

In addition, while on-the-ground corporate demand is clearly concentrated on fast and stable “solar PPAs,” actual supply has utterly failed to keep pace. According to the Corporate Renewable Energy Foundation’s ‘2025 Renewable Energy Market Outlook Survey’, the renewable source companies most preferred was solar (57%), far ahead of wind (20%). As for procurement methods, companies overwhelmingly preferred PPAs (58%). However, according to the 2024 CDP Korea Report, the actual PPA usage share among Korean companies that responded to CDP remained at only around 1%, revealing a severe mismatch between demand and supply.

There are also growing calls for the government and National Assembly to move quickly on additional policies to address urgent solar PPA demand, alongside their longer-term pursuit of a zoning system through the Offshore Wind Special Act. Offshore wind enables large-scale generation but takes a long time to build, so the prevailing view is that it is insufficient to fill short-term supply gaps.

KoSIF, which led the underlying research, stressed that “private development alone cannot solve the chronic problems surrounding renewable energy, such as securing sites and obtaining permits,” and that “an active public role is urgently needed to rapidly supply the solar PPA volumes companies want.”

| “A matter of national competitiveness”: conveying the voice of business

CoREi made clear that this policy proposal is directly tied to national competitiveness, beyond the concerns of individual companies. Yang Chun-seung, Executive Director of KoSIF, emphasized that “expanding renewable energy infrastructure is now an unavoidable global trend and a key factor determining the nation’s future competitiveness,” adding that “only when the government establishes a foundation for stably procuring renewable energy through corporate-dedicated ‘planned renewable sites’ can companies also actively respond to climate change within a predictable cost structure.”

Meanwhile, this policy proposal is based on an in-depth analysis of the need for such a system, presented in CoREi’s previously published report “A Study on Planned Renewable Siting for Activating Corporate Renewable Energy.” The “2025 Survey Report on Perceptions of Renewable Energy Transition in Corporate Supply Chains,” which examines corporate voices and demand on the ground in concrete detail, is also scheduled to be released soon.

[Image] The report “A Study on Planned Renewable Siting for Activating Corporate Renewable Energy,” containing the key analysis and policy proposals

[Learn more about the Report]

ESG Management ㅣ Nahyun Nam, Senior Researcher(nhn5505@kosif.org)

                                                Seung Youn Seo, Senior Researcher(syseo@kosif.org)

  Communications ㅣ Dajeong Kim, Senior Researcher(kimdj@kosif.org)