Using idle railway infrastructure nationwide — enough to power about 20,000 homes a year
Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) plans to identify new idle railway spaces and expand its solar power generation project in line with the government's renewable energy expansion policy for the rail sector.
Korail announced Thursday that it will hold a public briefing on its solar power generation project on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. in the main conference room on the third floor of its headquarters in Daejeon, presenting project sites and development plans.
The briefing is open to officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Gyeonggi Province, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Korea Energy Agency, Korea Industrial Complex Corp. and Korea National Railway, as well as solar power developers. Any interested business operator may attend.
Korail's solar power project involves installing generation facilities on idle railway land to produce renewable energy. Korail leases sites to power developers, who install and operate the equipment, and Korail purchases all of the electricity produced directly.
Project sites include idle land at railway vehicle depots (35 locations, 49.8 GWh), Korail-operated public parking lots nationwide (132 locations, 32.5 GWh), the Goyang KTX vehicle depot and the area around Haengsin Station (25.6 GWh), and KTX stations along the Gyeongbu Line (nine stations, 9 GWh).
Total projected output stands at 116.9 GWh — enough electricity to power about 20,000 four-person households for a year.
"Expanding renewable energy through railway infrastructure is a meaningful project that advances both carbon neutrality and improved railway operational efficiency," said Park Yong-jeong, head of Korail's Carbon Neutrality Promotion Team. "We will actively leverage the spaces and resources that railways possess to build a sustainable rail system."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
