As the government pushes to restructure the power supervision system ahead of the 100GW renewable energy era, experts are calling for large power consumers such as data centers, not just power plants, to comply with grid codes.
"Grid codes need to apply not only to power sources but also to large-scale power consumers such as data centers," Huh Jin, professor of climate energy systems engineering at Ewha Womans University, said at the Power Governance Forum held Wednesday at Seoul Square in Jung-gu, Seoul. The forum was jointly organized by the Electricity Committee under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and Korea Power Exchange.
Grid codes refer to safety regulations that power plants and other facilities must follow when connecting to transmission and distribution networks to avoid compromising system stability. These include requirements such as equipping power plants with devices to respond to sudden voltage fluctuations, or converting direct current from solar power generation to alternating current to match grid conditions.
Professor Huh emphasized applying grid codes to data centers because large-scale power consumers emerging with the advancement of artificial intelligence are undermining grid stability. "Just as voltage and generation fluctuations from renewable energy plants are problematic on the supply side, the variability of electricity demand from data centers is also a significant burden on the grid from the demand side," he said. "In places like Texas, authorities and industry are collaborating to create grid codes to address these issues."
Concerns were also raised about the lack of a system to verify compliance with existing grid codes. "Our grid codes already contain substantial provisions, but the problem is poor enforcement," said Song Seung-ho, professor of electrical engineering at Kwangwoon University, emphasizing the urgent need for a power supervisory agency to monitor compliance and impose sanctions for violations.
Lee Kyung-hoon, secretary general of the Electricity Committee under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, also supports establishing a power supervisory agency. He cited the increasing complexity of the electricity trading market compared to the past, making management difficult under the current system. The number of Korea Power Exchange member companies surged from just 19 in 2001 to 7,096 as of June last year. Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), where generators supply electricity directly to consumers through KEPCO's transmission network, are reported to have reached 180,000 contracts.
To address this operational complexity, Lee said an independent specialized body — a power supervisory agency — should be created to handle tasks including improving and managing grid codes, evaluating the adequacy of grid operations, and strengthening accident investigation functions. According to Lee, such an agency could also perform market surveillance duties such as analyzing competitive market structures and monitoring unfair trading, as well as data integration tasks including establishing power grid data standards and building AI-based supervision platforms. The government has indicated it will actively pursue establishing the power supervisory agency based on legislation already submitted to the National Assembly.