The plan to build a new 300MW gas power plant in Jeju gained momentum when the 10th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, announced in January 2023, included 600MW of new gas generation for the Jeju region, with 300MW prioritized for immediate implementation.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province responded by announcing the “Clean Energy Grand Transition Roadmap,” formalizing plans to build and operate a 300MW gas power plant capable of hydrogen co- and full-firing. Governor Oh Young-hoon emphasized the transition to a hydrogen economy and the rationale for hydrogen use across all energy sectors, including power generation.
With strong backing from the provincial government, the project materialized. Following the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s survey of construction intent for a 150MW LNG combined-cycle plant in Jeju, Korea Jungbu Power (Samyang-dong site) and Korea East-West Power (Dongbok-ri site) were selected as the final project operators in September 2023. Environmental impact assessments commenced in 2024; Korea East-West Power passed its assessment in February 2026, while Korea Jungbu Power is currently in the main consultation phase.
However, criticism from environmental groups has been continuous since the decision was made — from concerns over massive greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution, to questions about the technical immaturity and limited carbon-reduction effectiveness of green hydrogen co/full-firing technology. More recently, structural concerns have come to the fore, including how gas generation’s inflexibility hampers renewable energy expansion, and how the rapid decline in capacity factors of existing gas plants is severely weakening their financial structures.
While debate on environmental and grid stability aspects has progressed to some extent, there has been insufficient rigorous scrutiny of whether building new gas plants and pursuing green hydrogen power generation is a financially sound use of public funds and electricity tariffs.
This brief therefore aims to objectively assess the viability of new capacity additions by analyzing the financial performance and utilization data of Jeju’s currently operating gas power plants. It also seeks to clarify the economic reality of the green hydrogen power plan — which is expected to require astronomical costs — in order to diagnose the project’s feasibility and propose an alternative energy transition pathway suited to Jeju’s circumstances.