Core News Facts Summary
The Korea Power Exchange, under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, plans to announce a call for competitive bids for the 3rd ESS Central Contract Market as early as September 2026. The 3rd bid scale is under strong consideration to be announced at 1 GW or more, roughly double the approximately 560 MW each for the 1st and 2nd bids. The order scale is projected to reach approximately ₩1 trillion, which, in simple conversion, opens up a battery order competition equivalent to 6–7 GWh. Korea’s three major battery makers — LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On — view this 3rd bid as an opportunity they cannot afford to miss and have signaled an all-out effort.
Mechanism-Perspective Impact Analysis
As the bid scale grows to roughly double the 1st and 2nd rounds, the winning companies’ ESS rack/container assembly lines must ramp up utilization within a short period. Here, the bottleneck is not cell supply but the throughput of module-to-rack assembly jigs and the inspection process. Companies that have not secured standardized assembly jigs in advance will face both delivery delays and quality deviation simultaneously. The fact that the three battery makers have requested the government to ease price competition shows that the current bottleneck lies more in cost pressure than in equipment expansion.
Spec Comparison Table
| Category | 1st/2nd | 3rd (expected) |
|---|---|---|
| Bid scale | approx. 560 MW | 1 GW or more |
| Battery equivalent | confirmation needed | approx. 6–7 GWh |
| Order scale (value) | confirmation needed | approx. ₩1 trillion |
| Announcement timing | – | early September 2026 (planned) |
One-Line Summary
As the 3rd ESS bid doubles in scale compared to the 1st and 2nd rounds, the bottleneck shifts from cell supply to the throughput of module-to-rack assembly jigs.