Government to Cut Coal-fired and Nuclear Power Generation

The South Korean government finalized its ninth national power supply plan on Dec. 28. According to it, half of coal-fired power plants in South Korea will be shut down within 15 years for the purpose of carbon reduction, 11 old nuclear power plants will be shut down at the ends of their service lives without any service life extension, and LNG- and renewable energy-based power generation will be expanded to offset the resultant decrease in power supply.

At present, a total of 60 coal-fired power stations are in operation in South Korea. Half of them that have a combined capacity of 15.3 GW and have been in operation for more than 30 years will be shut down by 2034. Still, seven new coal-fired power stations with a capacity of 7.3 GW will be built as planned. As a whole, the capacity of such facilities will be reduced from 35.8 GW to 29 GW from this year to 2034.

When it comes to nuclear power plants, the government is planning to increase the number from 24 to 26 from this year to 2024 and then decrease it to 17 by 2034. The capacity of the plants will be reduced from 23.3 GW to 19.4 GW from this year to 2034.

LNG and renewable energy sources are supposed to take the place of coal and nuclear power. Specifically, 24 out of the 30 coal-fired power stations with a combined capacity of 12.8 GW will be replaced by LNG power plants. The total LNG power generation capacity will be increased from 41.3 GW to 59.1 GW in 14 years by new LNG power plants being added to the replacements.

The capacity of renewable energy-based power generation will be raised from 20.1 GW to 77.8 GW during the same period. At present, South Korea’s power generation is divided into 32.3 percent by LNG, 28.1 percent by coal, 18.2 percent by nuclear power and 15.8 percent by renewable sources. The government is planning to adjust the ratios to 30.6, 15, 10.1 and 40.3.