Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC) is spearheading the Green New Deal initiative by building carbon neutral infrastructure. (Top) A view of a hydrogen charging station at the Anseong Rest Area, an EV high-speed charging station at the Hwaseong Rest Area of the West Coast Expressway.

The corporation is implementing Green New Deal projects using infrastructure related to idle land sites along expressway networks.

KEC decided to form a carbon neutrality task force to yield outcomes related to carbon reduction projects, such as the renewable energy and eco-friendly car charging station projects that each department is now implementing.

The corporation has been pushing preparatory work to make the nation’s whole expressway network comply with renewable energy expansion and carbon neutrality practices, in keeping with the future energy paradigm shift.

The task force will comprise of overall department and business department officials as well as inside and outside experts.

It will be responsible for exploring plausible tasks to pursue carbon neutrality according to the whole lifecycle of expressways, ranging from design and construction to operation and examining the feasibility of projects.

KEC also will inaugurate a carbon neutrality push committee under the control of the senior executive vice president.

The move is designed to expedite the execution of projects by establishing carbon neutrality strategies, designate tasks and take stock of outcomes.

In this context, KEC is planning to launch the tentatively named “CarbonStar” project related to its functions in the future.

The project involves a strategy of developing excellent recycling construction materials and low-energy construction engineering methods and determining their uses at expressway construction sites under a pilot project by making the most of the expertise the corporation has accumulated in the course of the implementation of photovoltaic power and other carbon emission reduction projects.

(Top) A view of photovoltaic power panels installed on an idle land of the Dangjin-Yeongdeok expressway, and inside view of truck drivers’ lounge, equipped with beds and showering facilities, at Seoul-bound Gyeongsan Rest Area. (Photos: KEC)

A KEC official said the corporation will continue to expand renewable energy projects using expressway infrastructure such as photovoltaic power and eco-friendly charging stations, while exploring carbon neutrality projects related to its own functions such as afforestation projects.

KEC is pulling out all the stops to implement renewably energy projects, such as photovoltaic power and fuel cell using idle land sites and other expressway infrastructure.

In particular, the corporation is targeting to meet expressway energy demand with renewable energy production by 2025.

To this end, the corporation has been expanding photovoltaic power facilities using idle land sites such as afforestation zones and slopes.

KEC has 319 photovoltaic power facilities with a combined capacity of 149MW in operation.

The capacity has an effect of reducing 86,000 tons of carbon emissions per annum. KEC plan to install new photovoltaic power facilities with a capacity of 30MW.

KEC is also accelerating efforts to build fuel cell facilities capable of generating electricity by extracting hydrogen from liquefied natural gas. They are capable of reducing carbon emissions by half compared to thermal power plants and small, idle land sites of expressway networks.