국내 심부 지열에너지 개발의 제반 법적ㆍ제도적 문제점

Abstract

The facilitation and promotion of deep underground geothermal energy is urgently needed in order to mitigate global climate change and pursue sustainable development in the Republic of Korea. However, the deep underground geothermal energy industry is still at its early stage of development despite the advent of innovative Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) technologies and domestic geothermal resource potential enough to contribute to the nation’s renewable energy supply. This is mainly due to regulatory barriers relating to permitting procedures required under the Hot Spring Law and the Underground Water Law, and low-level governmental financial support. Under the Hot Spring Law, underground hot water is classified as a hot spring water. Thus, deep underground geothermal energy development projects utilizing underground hot water are subject to onerous permitting requirements and procedures under the Law. Also, similarly onerous permitting requirements and procedures under the Underground Water Law are applicable to deep underground geothermal energy development projects, because underground hot water belongs to ground water. The more serious problem is that the above-mentioned provisions can be applied duplicately and are not sufficient to deal with geothermal energy development activity. Futhermore, the right to explore and produce geothermal energy is covered by the Civil Law due to the non-existence of special legislation that regulates it exclusively. As a consequence, geothermal energy developers must negotiate with the landowners over the utilization of underground hot water, and potentially face prolonged legal battle with them. These and other problems actually function as serious regulatory barriers for the implementation of deep underground geothermal energy development projects. Such advanced nations as Germany and Australia are currently leading the world by introducing and implementing a variety of policy tools, which are designed to promote deep underground geothermal energy. These include progressive Feed-In Tariff (FIT) policy, creative financing tools, numerous financial assistance programs, royalty and tax exemptions, and so on. More importantly, many countries treat geothermal energy as minerals or petroleum resources, thereby giving geothermal energy developers the exclusive right to explore and produce geothermal energy for its duration pursuant to the applicable law. Two strengths can be found in terms of policy approaches employed by those foreign countries. First, they try to prevent many of the potential legal problems with the landowners over the utilization of underground geothermal energy by clarifying the nature of the right to explore and produce geothermal energy that is distinctly severable from landownership. Second, they often differentiate between renewable energy resources in designing policy tools by considering the unique characteristics of the geothermal energy industry that require more governmental support. The author proposes the following law revisions and policy innovation based on the above-mentioned considerations and discussions. • The classification of geothermal energy as minerals under the Mineral Law • Possible national ownership over underground geothermal energy resources • Treatment of the right to explore and produce geothermal energy as a exclusive right distinct from landownership under the permitting provisions of the Mineral Law • The enactment of special provisions relating to geothermal energy projects, including a longer period of the right to explore, a larger mineral development project site size, and the Underground Water Law-related permitting procedures exemption clauses • The designing of the nation’s Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) policy in a direction to promote renewable energy, generally, and deep underground geothermal energy, specifically, including strengthened production quotas and weighted-values awarded to renewable energy certificates (RECs)• The introduction of financial assistance programs to reduce huge drilling and exploration costs and high failure risks relating to deep underground geothermal energy development projects • The implementation of RD&D support programs to facilitate innovation in drilling and exploration technologies and equipment