SEOUL, Sept. 5 (AJP) - Korea's government plans to reduce its budget for renewable energy support by about 7.7 percent next year while increasing funding for nuclear power, according to budget proposals submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 2025 budget allocates 571.7 billion won ($428 million) for renewable energy support, down from 619.6 billion won in 2024.
The budget for nuclear industry programs, including the development of small modular reactors (SMR), will rise 42 percent from 117.2 billion won to 166.9 billion won in 2025.
Renewable energy cuts focus on reducing loans and subsidies, particularly for solar power projects. However, the government aims to bolster support for large-scale offshore wind development, introducing a new 42 billion won zero-carbon energy guarantee program.
Korea's state-run Korea Energy Agency will receive 32 billion won from the program to provide financial guarantees for large offshore wind projects, potentially supporting up to 400 billion won worth of developments.
The budget reflects Korea's strategy to diversify its renewable energy mix, which has been heavily reliant on solar power. As of 2021, solar accounted for 87 percent of the country's renewable electricity generation, with wind power at 13 percent.
By 2023, the cumulative power generation capacity for solar and wind was respectively 23.9 gigawatts and 0.1 gigawatts. The government aims to balance out the percentage of solar and wind power's electricity generation to 6 to 4 by 2030.
The government aims to increase the share of renewable energy in Korea's power generation to 21.6 percent by 2030 and 32.9 percent by 2038, according to its latest power supply plan.
