The ambitious project to create a regional super grid to connect Korea and Japan onto vast renewable resources across China and Mongolia picked up with Seoul and Beijing taking the initiative.

The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that it held a ministerial-level meeting in Seoul with Chinese counterpart for the so-called ‘Northeast Asia super grid` project, which aims to connect power networks of the neighboring countries in the region.

Korea and China have begun conducting related studies such as locations and expenses for installing undersea power cables and plan to complete the feasibility study by the end of this year. They target to construct some of the infrastructures by 2022.

In addition to the Northeast Asia super grid project, Korea and China, world’s second and third largest importers of liquefied natural gas, agreed to join forces to ensure more transparency in LNG trade.

The two nations plan to collaborate on advancing energy-related technology through applications of artificial intelligence and internet of things onto the renewable energy sector. They plan to hold a Korea-China energy business forum soon.

Tuesday’s Korea-China energy conference was attended by officials from state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Energy Agency, and Korea Energy Economics Institute. From China, representatives of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and State Grid Corporation of China attended the meeting.

By Ko Jae-man and Cho Jeehyun

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