South Korea aims to harness more of renewable energy generating sources as it looks towards a cleaner future.

A Reuters report has cited a government policy draft that says that South Korea plans to boost the share of its energy output generated from renewable sources to as much as 35 percent by 2040.

This will be four times the current share of renewable energy in the country’s generation mix. As of now, renewable energy accounts for 8% of South Korea’s energy generation.

The Reuters report also quoted Park Jae-young, director of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, stating, “We have decided to increase the share of renewable power to between 30 and 35% by 2040 to move toward cleaner and safer energy based on an advisory group’s recommendation”.

South Korea has been steadily taking steps towards adopting more renewable energy technologies for power generation.

In November 2018, South Korea announced that it will build a 4 GW solar and wind energy complex on the Saemangeum reclaimed land area in Gunsan. The hybrid complex will be located along the west coast of South Korea’s Jeollabuk-do Province. The power generated from this complex will be equivalent to that generated by four nuclear generators. The project is expected to receive KRW (South Korean won) 10 trillion (~$8.9 billion) of private investment.

In July 2018, the Korea Power Electric Corp. (KEPCO), a South Korean state-run utility, signed Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with India’s Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) for the expansion of renewable energy projects in both countries. The MoC was signed during a bilateral business forum held in New Delhi on the sidelines of the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier, Mercom reported that South Korea’s Ministry of Environment has issued guidelines for solar power installation amid fears about environmental damage due to natural disasters.