Employees from Google’s and Meta’s headquarters each paid a visit to Korea recently. Unbeknownst to the news media, they quietly met with Korean renewable energy start-ups to discuss potential investments in supplying clean energy to AI data centers the firms are considering building in Korea.

Big name companies always make sure they remain committed to environmentally friendly efforts to reduce carbon emissions when making investments. These efforts are publicly disclosed under the label of environmental, social and governance practices and are subject to evaluation. Google and Meta are no different, and when they plan to build data centers that consume large amounts of electricity, running them on clean energy is always on their list of criteria.

After meeting with the Korean start-ups, the companies decided to halt their investments in Korea due to the country’s limited capacity to supply clean energy. They wanted a steady supply of clean energy for their data centers, which run 24 hours a day. Providing that supply with solar or wind energy, which is generated intermittently depending on the weather, would require storing the electricity so that the supply is not disrupted when power is not being generated.

That storage component is the weak link in Korea’s renewable energy ecosystem. In 2017, following a fire at an energy storage system (ESS) facility at a substation in Gochang, North Jeolla Province, the government tightened safety standards which caused investment in ESS projects to decline. Their appeal to investors diminished further when the government eliminated the additional Renewable Energy Credits awarded to ESS operators. In the government’s defense, some operators had exploited the system for profit by discharging stored renewable electricity only during the hours when they could earn additional credits.

The country's lack of capacity to store generated energy has created problems. One of them is the need to limit power generation to prevent blackouts, as blackouts can also occur when there is an oversupply of electricity that destabilizes the grid. The Korea Power Exchange implements power-generation curtailment when electricity demand is low and an oversupply threatens the grid.

For Google and Meta, the prospect of having their data centers — which must remain up and running 24 hours a day — cut off from power because of inadequate ESS capacity and electricity distribution infrastructure is unfathomable. And as long as energy storage remains a gaping hole in the renewable energy ecosystem, future investments in Korea will likely meet the same fate as those considered by Google and Meta.

The shortage of ESS capacity has also drawn the attention of President Lee Jae Myung, who pointed to the need to expand the country’s storage capabilities during a policy briefing by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment at the presidential office on Aug. 4.

“We have no choice but to move toward a society centered on renewable energy. Electricity demand is expected to surge, so instead of curtailing generation simply because there is excess power now, we should expand ESS capacity and store the surplus.”

It is reassuring and encouraging to see the government finally begin paying attention to the renewable energy storage problem.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.