“Put the grid underground instead of building towers”: Gyeonggi study proposes highway-based power network for Yongin chip cluster

South Korea’s Gyeonggi province could use highways to solve the power shortage expected to accompany the Yongin semiconductor cluster and the spread of artificial-intelligence data centers. The Gyeonggi Research Institute has proposed placing transmission and distribution conduits underground beneath existing highway land, rather than building new transmission towers.

The institute’s report, titled “Power Shortage in the Semiconductor Era, Find the Answer on Highways,” outlines an “Gyeonggi Energy Highway” based on the province’s 840-kilometer highway network. Using land already secured by the state could avoid conflicts with residents and compensation disputes linked to transmission-tower construction.

The institute estimates that the approach could reduce the average construction period for transmission lines from 13 years to five to seven years. That would allow power to reach Yongin semiconductor factories scheduled to begin operating in 2029. It identified the Seohaean and Pyeongtaek-Siheung expressways as the best route for moving about 3 gigawatts of solar power generated on reclaimed coastal land at Sihwa, Hwaong and Pyeongtaek Lake to semiconductor hubs in southern Gyeonggi.

The proposal also treats highway land as a large renewable power plant. Slopes, embankments and sound barriers along the 840-kilometer network could generate an estimated 773 gigawatt-hours annually, enough to supply an entire small or medium-sized city. Large energy-storage systems at rest areas and interchanges would store excess daytime power and raise the capacity of distribution lines to absorb solar electricity from 14 megawatts to 18 megawatts.

The plan calls for a partnership model in which residents and local communities invest at least 4% of project costs and receive regular dividends. The institute said this could improve public acceptance alongside relaxed legal setback rules. It recommended cooperation among Gyeonggi province, Korea Expressway Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation, beginning with a pilot supply network linking reclaimed-coast solar power to Seo Hwaseong before expanding across southern Gyeonggi and the national highway system.

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Using highways to build an energy network is a realistic solution that can overcome the huge barriers of resident conflict and land compensation.