By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

Korea and Australia have decided to join forces in developing renewable energies as well as introducing the next-generation electricity network, dubbed the smart grid, in order to grapple with climate change.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) reached such agreements Monday with its Australian counterpart ― the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources ― at the joint committee held in Perth, Australia.

``As far as clean energy sources are concerned, we agreed to make a strategic alliance with Australia through technology exchanges or joint development,'' an MKE director said. ``In addition, we will cooperate in the smart grid segment to deal with environmental issues.''

The smart grid refers to a two-way network interconnecting electricity suppliers and consumers in a sophisticated fashion geared toward tackling the global headache of diminishing energy sources.

Along with the renewable energies, the smart grid has been touted as one of the major solutions to save the planet from the threat of various environmental problems such as greenhouse gases and the resultant global warming.

Despite being a latecomer to the technology, Korea has moved fast in the smart-grid competition by coming up with a roadmap earlier this year to build a nationwide smart-grid network for the first time in history.

Asia's fourth-largest economy aims to construct the futuristic network by 2030 across the country so that it can reduce consumption by hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil, worth more than $40 billion.

The two nations also opted to strengthen their energy collaboration in other areas in line with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties, which happens next year.

The MKE expected that the agreement will prompt Korean corporations to accelerate their efforts in developing such significant natural resources as coal and iron ore in Australia.

It also expected that Korean firms would be able to take part in the extraction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in tune with the Australian government's proposals.

``The expansion of Australian LNG imports is expected to diversify the sources of our LNG shipments, which will help stabilize supplies of the resource down the road,'' the anonymous MKE official said. As of 2009, Korea imported 88 percent of its overall LNG demand from Qatar, Oman, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Korea has invested a lot in Australia ― a country rich with natural resources. Australia has the world's biggest reserves of uranium, nickel and zinc, and has the fourth largest reserves of iron ore and coal.

Up until 2008, of the money Korea spent on developing resources, it invested more than a third, $17.4 billion, in Australia.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr