Jeju Island races to carbon-free power with EVs, hydrogen buses, and renewable grid fixes

Jeju Island in South Korea is pushing to become carbon-free after a 2000s blackout exposed its dependence on undersea cables from the mainland. The province now gets 24.3% of its power from renewables, the highest share in the country, and has set a 2035 target of 7 GW of renewable energy and 60,000 tons of hydrogen. EVs make up 11.9% of vehicles on the island, helped by roughly 28,000 charging points.\n\nThe transition has not been smooth. Grid curtailment happened about 180 times in 2023, and there is only one hydrogen refueling station. Still, a 2025 moment when wind and solar met all of Jeju's demand for four straight hours shows what the island is working toward. The story also covers RE100 tangerines grown with flexible solar panels and waste-to-energy from a daily incineration plant.