Limits in Expanding Solar Power Facilities
The South Korean government is planning to increase the ratio of renewable energy-based power generation to 40% by 2040. The move comes only one year after it announced a plan to increase the ratio to 20% by 2030 by investing 100 trillion won.
The government’s move to drastically raise the renewable energy-based power generation goal has to do with a recent surge in the installations of solar power generation equipment. According to the Korea Energy Corporation, new installations of solar power generation equipment totaled 1.4 GW from January to September this year, surpassing the 1,184 MW recorded for the whole of 2017. If the pace is maintained, the government’s target for this year, 1.8 GW, is likely to be easily met.
There are some problems though. Some solar power generators collapsed due to heavy rains and typhoons. Civil petitions tend to increase due to speculative investments and construction noises. During the peak power demand of this summer, solar power and wind power accounted for less than 2% of the total power supply, causing doubts about whether they can function as main sources of electricity supply.
Experts point out that the government needs to control the pace of expansion of renewable energy-based power generation. “More eco-friendly power generation is indeed necessary, but it should be achieved in stages,” an expert said.
A rapid increase in the use of solar power generation equipment is unlikely to continue for the time being. This is because 95 local governments are refusing to accept the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy’s plans to popularize power generation using renewable energy. The reasons for refusal are diverse, including safety concerns, forest destruction, light reflected by solar panels and construction noises. More than 70% of approved solar power generation projects have failed to kick off due to these reasons.
Specifically, a total of 17 local governments approved 92,189 projects for 25,100 MW from 2010 to July this year. Among them, however, only 25,660 for 4,775 MW could actually kick off. From July 2017 to July 2018, project approval requests more than doubled in five local governments and the number of such requests increased 76.28% nationwide. Still, the number of initiated projects rose by only 19.69%.
Besides, much time is required from project initiation to connection to power transmission systems. According to the Korea Electric Power Corporation, 2,401 MW of new and renewable energy was yet to be connected to power transmission systems as of May this year and solar power and solar thermal energy accounted for 99% of it. Electric power produced but not connected to the systems is of no use at all.