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Investment in next-generation geothermal is surging. Policies are key to further growth
Next-generation geothermal readies for take-off Next-generation geothermal is seeing a burst of financing, innovation and new supply agreements Geothermal energy harnesses naturally occurring heat found beneath the Earth’s surface to provide heating and cooling, electricity and energy storage. As global electricity demand rises and power systems place a growing premium on firm supply, geothermal energy’s ability to provide an around-the-clock, low-emissions source of power is attracting renewed attention. However, easy-to-access conventional geothermal resources are relatively rare and mostly confined to a small number of shallow geothermal hotspots globally, accounting for…
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Global battery markets are growing strongly – and so are the supply risks
part 1- lithium-ion batteries Batteries’ importance is increasing across key sectors including autos, power, data centres and beyond The global lithium-ion battery market exceeded USD 150 billion in 2025, an increase of over 20% from 2024, but its economic and strategic significance extends far beyond market size. Batteries are becoming a cornerstone of the automotive sector, a critical source of flexibility for power systems, and an increasingly important source of back-up power for digital infrastructure, including data centres and artificial intelligence.Beyond energy, batteries remain indispensable for a wide range of industrial and strategic applications, from portable…
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China’s Official Energy Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies Case 5. Silk Road fund commitment in African Infrastructure Investment Fund IV
Project overview and impact Africa’s energy sector faces a persistent investment shortfall, with annual clean energy spending needing to grow more than six times by 2035 to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Equity funds have become an important channel for mobilising capital into markets where project-level financing remains constrained by high costs of capital, currency risk and a shortage of scalable, investable project structures. Against this backdrop, the Silk Road Fund (SRF) committed USD 50 million to the African Infrastructure Investment Fund IV (AIIF4) in 2023. The AIIF4 is a pan-African infrastructure fund managed by African…
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Additional Support Measures to Encourage Exports: Energy and Steel
In September 2023, the Korean government's Emergency Economic Ministers Committee (led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance) announced Additional Support Measures to Encourage Exports, a portfolio of policy measures aimed at boosting export competitiveness through a combination of deregulatory measures, financing support, and government grants. Measures include both general support that apply to a wide range of industries; and specific funding measures aimed at key strategic industries (including energy, semiconductor, and battery manufacturing industries).Specific funding measures for steel and energy industries include:Announcement of plans for a carbon-neutral steel R&D plan and steel industry…
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Additional Support Measures to Encourage Exports: Batteries
In September 2023, the Korean government's Emergency Economic Ministers Committee (led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance) announced Additional Support Measures to Encourage Exports, a portfolio of policy measures aimed at boosting export competitiveness through a combination of deregulatory measures, financing support, and government grants. Measures include both general support that apply to a wide range of industries; and specific funding measures aimed at key strategic industries (including energy, semiconductor, and battery manufacturing industries).Specific funding measures for batteries include:R&D funding for lithium iron phosphate battery and sodium battery technology (KRW 2.6 billion; 2024…
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Electric Vehicle Subsidy Regulatory Guidance
Beginning in 2015, the Korean government has announced annual guidance on electric vehicle purchase subsidies that are aimed at supporting EV adoption. Overall annual budgets and specific guidance on calculating the exact amount subsidies provide per vehicle are announced at the beginning of the year.The 2024 guidance provides KRW 1.7 trillion in subsidies. Funding is further broken down by vehicle category: KRW 932 billion for light-duty passenger vehiclesKRW 140 billion for light- and medium-duty commercial vehiclesKRW 630 billion for heavy-duty commercial vehicles Specific subsidy amounts are set for each vehicle model and determined by a range…
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EVSE deployment
In 2016, the Korean government spent 42,100 million KRW on direct investment in public EVSE deployment. For Public chargers will be built about 10,000 station by 2022
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Green & Smart Transportation Partnership
Recently, the Korean government has put a high priority on energy efficiency and greenhouse-gas emissions reduction for freight transportation. Keeping up with the government efforts, KEMCO has been implementing Green & Smart Transportation Partnership through voluntary agreements with participants such as freight shippers, carriers and logistics companies. This partnership is to promote exchange of information and technologies between participants, to identify energy-saving measures, and to support the implementation of those measures in the freight transportation sector. Since 2010, 24 companies from various industries have signed the MOUs with KEMCO to participate in the Green & Smart Transportation Partnership…
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Energy Technology Perspectives 2026 Supply chain risks and industrial competitiveness
Supply chain risks Supply chain security remains a challenge: Clean energy technology manufacturing is highly geographically concentrated, with China as the main supplier in most supply chain stages. China accounts for around 85% of solar and 80% of lithium-ion battery supply chain production capacity, and even higher shares for PV wafers (95%) and anode materials (97%). Cybersecurity considerations further enhance the importance of addressing security of supply. An “N-1” assessment, which models the impact of losing the largest exporter in each supply chain, shows that for the final downstream stages of most of the four technologies examined – solar…
