韩国环境能源部长称将下调第12次电力供需计划中AI数据中心(AIDC)电力需求预测，只反映已落实需求，引发18.4GW超级项目部分延期预期

Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the government will scale back part of its projected power demand from future artificial intelligence data centers (AIDCs). The government had earlier announced plans to build 18.4 gigawatts of AIDC capacity by 2035, but with many projects moving slowly, it will reflect only confirmed demand in the 12th Basic Plan for Long-term Electricity Supply and Demand. The remarks have raised expectations that parts of the mega-project, which the government had promised to fast-track, may be delayed.
Speaking at a comprehensive audit by the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on the 26th, Kim said, "We will reflect the required volume in the 12th electricity plan without overestimating or underestimating AIDC power demand." He added, "When we announced the three mega-projects, we tried to reflect corporate demand as fully as possible, but once we got into it, not much demand has actually been firmed up in concrete terms. It is difficult to put all of this vague demand into the 12th electricity plan, so we will take into account companies' plans and realistic demand."
In August, the ministry released revised power demand estimates for the 12th electricity plan, raising projected AIDC demand based on 2040 peak power by 7.9 GW to 11.9 GW from 4 GW. Before that, the government had issued its first power demand outlook in April, reflecting companies' artificial intelligence investment trends. After the government announced the mega-projects, it nearly tripled the demand figure in just four months.
The government's three mega-projects include a plan to build 18.4 GW of facilities in the AIDC sector alone by 2035. Under the blueprint, SK, GS and NAVER will build 8.4 GW of AIDCs by 2029, followed by an additional 10 GW by 2035 centered on sites secured by SK.
Of these, GS Group and NAVER have presented relatively concrete investment plans. GS Group has begun AIDC construction on a 180,000-pyeong site at the Bukpyeong No. 2 General Industrial Complex in Donghae, Gangwon State, which has already been developed, with a target of bringing 1.2 GW online in the first phase in 2028 and another 1.2 GW in the second phase in 2029. The required power is expected to come from nearby nuclear plants or from coal-fired plants running at low utilization rates because of grid shortages. NAVER announced a plan to partner with Nvidia to build 100 megawatts of AIDC capacity in 2027 and 200 MW in 2028, later expanding to 1 GW. It has already secured a site in Sejong.
SK Group's investment plans, by contrast, are relatively opaque. Apart from a 100 MW-class AIDC it is building in Ulsan with Amazon Web Services (AWS), there has been no word yet on investment plans for the 4 GW of facilities it had agreed to build in the east coast, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, central and Honam regions. The decision to review AIDC demand again just two months after revising the demand outlook is seen as reflecting this situation.
AIDC projects outside the three mega-projects are also known to face considerable lags between investment announcements and actual construction. According to data center research firm AI-DC Korea, a total of 522 AIDC projects worth 3.4 GW had applied for grid impact assessments to connect to the power network as of the first quarter of this year. Of those, only 10 cases totaling 1 GW have actually secured power supply. A ministry official said, "No precise scale for the demand reduction has been decided yet," adding, "We are closely examining the progress of each project."