7th Korean-German Energy Day
On December 2, 2025, the 7th Korean-German Energy Day took place at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, bringing together experts from government, research, and industry to discuss this year’s theme: “Large-scale Renewable Deployment and Grid Integration for Net-Zero.” Hosted by Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), the event featured keynote speeches by Director General Eunhae Jeong (MCEE) and Deputy Director General Axel Bree (BMWE), who outlined both countries’ strategies toward achieving climate neutrality.
Two focus sessions explored key aspects of the energy transition. The first focus session, “Scaling Renewable Energy Deployment in the Electricity Sector,” featured presentations by Marius Strotjohann (BMWE) and Kanghoon Park (Korea Energy Agency) on national strategies for renewable expansion and grid integration. Discussions also addressed local acceptance of renewable projects, with contributions from RWE Korea, the Korea Wind Energy Industry Association, Fraunhofer ISI, and the Korea Environment Institute. The second session, “Electricity Grid Transformation for a Renewable-Powered Future,” explored how to make power grids fit for variable renewables, with insights from Amprion GmbH, the Korea Power Exchange, KETEP, Siemens Energy, and adelphi.
The event highlighted that achieving large-scale renewable deployment requires not only effective incentives but also streamlined regulation, resilient supply chains, and opportunities that allow citizens to become active stakeholders in the energy transition. In parallel, grid infrastructure must undergo its own transformation: moving beyond simple expansion towards intelligent systems that embrace AI, digitalisation, and decentralised solutions. Korean-German cooperation can support this transformation, as both countries face similar challenges yet offer complementary strengths in areas such as energy communities, smart grids, and battery storage.