KT Corp. workers operate the company’s internet data center in southwestern Seoul, in this photo provided by the company on May 12, 2021.
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The government will provide various incentives to facilitate the decentralization of data centers, currently concentrated in South Korea’s capital area, officials have said.
Under the newly authorized detailed enforcement regulations by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, newly built data centers in non-capital areas, supplied with 22.9-kilovolt power, will be eligible for a 50 percent discount on the electric facility levy until May 2026.
Currently, when constructing a data center, all the costs of bringing electricity from the substation to the data center must be paid as an electric facility levy.
Larger data centers that require 154-kilovolt power are exempt from the reserved power fees imposed by the Korea Electric Power Corp., which amount to 2-6 percent of the base electricity rate.
Industry experts anticipate a monthly reduction of over 10 million won (US$7,630) in electricity costs for larger data centers due to the exemption of the reserved power fee.
According to the ministry, approximately 60 percent of the nationwide data centers and around 86 percent of those planned to be constructed by 2029 are concentrated in the greater Seoul area.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
