[THE INVESTOR] South Korea will double its investment in renewable energy technology as the country seeks to harness its climate change policy as a new economic growth driver, a senior diplomat said on Sept.29.

“With recent low oil prices, the global energy market appears relatively stable, but actually it is in a stage of enormous change,” Lee Tae-ho, deputy minister for economic affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in his opening remarks for Global Energy Security Conference.

“It portends to prolonged supplies of low-priced oil that could threaten the introduction of renewable energy which has relatively higher production costs,” the official said. “Under this backdrop, it is vital to secure price competitiveness of renewable energy sources by developing (related) core technologies.”

For its part, South Korea will increase its investment in 13 renewable energy technologies including solar and wind power and energy storage system to 1.1 trillion won (US$1 billion) by 2021, doubling from 560 billion won this year, Lee said. Seoul will also be very active in harnessing its climate change response into a new economic growth driver, with an aim to create a renewable energy market worth 100 trillion won and 500,000 new jobs locally, the official also said.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)