MCEE, a South Korea-based government ministry for climate, energy and the environment, has issued a national guideline for the classification of outdoor BESS, with which it expects the permitting of such projects to be shortened by up to three months. The guideline has been prepared together with the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and it was notified to the local governments of the country on 15 October 2026.

Before the guideline was issued, the same BESS unit could be a building in one district and a structure in the next, as each local government had applied its own policy, and each class has its own permitting route. A unit that was classed as a building took about two to four months and KRW 30 million to 80 million to be permitted; when it was classed as a structure, it needed only about half a month to one and a half months and KRW 2 million to 10 million.

To remove this uncertainty, the guideline, which has been agreed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, adds human access, structure and use as tests to Article 2 of the Building Act. Accordingly, a BESS in a dedicated protective enclosure that cannot be entered will be classed as a structure, and a unit that allows limited entry for inspection and maintenance will be classed as a temporary building. Only a dedicated, non-container building that people can enter at all times will be classed as a building, and the permit officers have also been given a decision matrix.

Lee Jae-sik, the Director General for Power Grid Policy at MCEE, has described energy storage systems as "core infrastructure that support the expansion of renewable energy and the stabilisation of the power grid." Kim Min-sung, a deputy head of the regulatory task force at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, has said that "differences in how local governments interpreted the law on energy storage facilities were one of the main difficulties of the secondary battery industry."

However, the guideline covers only the classification of the facilities, while the other rules for BESS sites remain in force. Whether a development activity permit is needed for a change in land form will still be decided by each local government, and the Korea Electrical Code (KEC) and the NFTC 607 fire safety standard will continue to apply.

MCEE is headed by Minister Kim Sung-whan, and the guideline has been issued by its Distributed Energy Division in the Power Grid Policy Bureau. The ministry will monitor how the guideline is applied in the field, and it will work with the other ministries concerned to improve any unreasonable regulations.