In the era of the ‘electric power big bang’ launched by AI, Korea stands at a crossroads for survival. > News

Power consumption in data centers around the world is increasing exponentially. According to Gartner's analysis, the power consumed by data centers by 2030 is expected to exceed 1,200 TWh, nearly three times the current amount. This figure is more than twice the total amount of electricity used by the Republic of Korea in a year, and the enormous computational load generated by AI servers is testing the limits of the infrastructure. To handle this explosive demand, big tech companies are turning to nuclear and LNG power generation, which provide stable baseload while remaining carbon neutral. In fact, companies' actions to secure power are evolving to become more bold and direct, such as Elon Musk's xAI building immediate LNG power plants next to data centers to bypass power grid regulations.

As energy security has emerged as a national issue, our companies are also moving quickly to survive in the global market. Samsung is reactivating its energy business TF and making every effort to improve data center power efficiency and secure the energy value chain, while Hyosung Heavy Industries has joined hands with Quanta, the largest EPC company in North America, to build an ultra-high voltage circuit breaker production base in the United States. This is a strategic move to go beyond simple overseas expansion and establish itself as a ‘total solution provider’ in the US market, which is teeming with AI data centers and modernization of aging power grids. At the same time, at the government level, we are strengthening energy resource cooperation with Saudi Arabia, securing a stable supply chain for crude oil and gas, and establishing a full-cycle cooperation model to exchange mineral resources and advanced industrial technologies in the long term.

However, behind the glamor of these huge industries, there are still deep blind spots in energy welfare. The government is trying to ease the burden of cooling and heating costs on vulnerable groups through the energy voucher system every year, and in particular, starting this year, it has established a new ‘Advance Exception Payment’ system that provides cash support to households that had difficulty paying because utility bills were included in their monthly rent. In addition, we are creating a tightly tailored welfare network, such as providing fuel cost support to households that replace briquette boilers with eco-friendly boilers. Services where social workers and postal workers directly visit households in crisis are also expanding, but as the pace of technological development outpaces that of the welfare delivery system, more sophisticated policy design is required.

Meanwhile, in the process of promoting this national energy policy, conflict between the government and civil society remains another task. Environmental groups criticize the current energy policy as being biased towards securing industrial competitiveness and development logic rather than the original purpose of responding to the climate crisis. In particular, it is painful to point out that nuclear energy-centered energy mix policies, such as the construction of new nuclear power plants or the introduction of SMR, are being promoted without sufficient public discussion on safety and radioactive waste disposal issues. The government protests that it is an inevitable choice for the transition to carbon-free energy, but resolving civil society's suspicions that the Ministry of Environment, which should harmoniously lead ecosystem conservation and industrial development, has been reduced to a development support department will be a key task in future government administration.