South Korea’s trade ministry announced Thursday it will invite bids from private companies to build and operate a large energy storage system (ESS) totaling 540 megawatts (MW) — enough to power about 1 million apartments for an hour. The project aims to help reduce electricity waste from renewable sources by storing surplus power during low-demand periods and releasing it when demand is high. The government plans to install 500MW of storage on the mainland and 40MW on Jeju Island, with all systems scheduled to begin operating by 2026.

Companies selected through the bidding process will manage the storage units for