Kim Sang-hyup (third from left), director general of the Global Green Growth Institute, Cho Yong-deok, head of Korea Water Resources Corporation's global business division, and other participants pose for a photo at the signing ceremony for the Philippines floating solar joint implementation agreement, held Wednesday at the GGGI headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Korea Water Resources Corporation]
Kim Sang-hyup (third from left), director general of the Global Green Growth Institute, Cho Yong-deok, head of Korea Water Resources Corporation's global business division, and other participants pose for a photo at the signing ceremony for the Philippines floating solar joint implementation agreement, held Wednesday at the GGGI headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Korea Water Resources Corporation]

Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) signed a joint implementation agreement Wednesday with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Korea Institute of Climate Change Research and accounting firm Saegil to conduct a preliminary feasibility study for a floating solar development project at Bustos Dam in the Philippines. The signing took place at the GGGI headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul.

The agreement marks the first concrete outcome of an MOU on climate change response and sustainable water management cooperation that K-water and GGGI signed in July.

The project is also the first attempt to apply floating solar technology — which K-water pioneered and commercialized domestically — to an overseas dam. It is also the first cooperative model to link the Korea Green New Deal Trust Fund, operated by GGGI, with government support for international greenhouse gas reduction projects.

The project site is Bustos Dam in Bulacan Province on Luzon Island in the Philippines, a water-supply dam with a storage capacity of 17 million tons operated by the National Irrigation Administration of the Philippines.

Through the preliminary feasibility study, K-water and its partner institutions plan to assess the viability of developing up to 90 megawatts of floating solar capacity on the surface of Bustos Dam — more than twice the 41.5 MW floating solar installation at Hapcheon Dam.

The agreement defines distinct roles for each institution to maximize expertise.

K-water will oversee the entire project and provide technical feasibility advisory services. GGGI will conduct the technical feasibility study, the Korea Institute of Climate Change Research will handle the carbon assessment, and accounting firm Saegil will review the financial feasibility.

If the full project proceeds on the basis of the study's findings, it is expected to serve as a springboard for expanding Korean company-led, floating solar-based international greenhouse gas reduction efforts overseas.

"We will work closely with each institution to thoroughly review the project's feasibility and do our utmost to ensure it develops into a successful international greenhouse gas reduction project," said Cho Yong-deok, head of K-water's global business division.


thlee@heraldcorp.com