South Korea’s Nuclear Power Generation Volume Increases in 2020

South Korea’s dependence on nuclear power plants is paradoxically increasing despite the Moon Jae-in administration’s policy for less nuclear power generation. Renewable energy-based power generation, which was expected to take the place of coal and nuclear power, edged up only 3 percent or so.

The Korea Electric Power Corp. announced on Feb. 18 that South Korea’s nuclear power generation volume increased 9.8 percent to 160,184 GWh last year to show the highest rate of increase among its power generation methods. “The ratio of nuclear power generation rose from 25.9 percent to 29 percent, the largest increment as well,” it said, adding, “In 2020, South Korea’s nuclear power generation topped 160,000 GWh for the first time since 2016.”

On the other hand, coal-based power generation decreased 13.6 percent to 196,489 GWh, dipping below 200,000 GWh for the first time in 11 years. Still, this method accounted for 35.6 percent of the total power generation as the most prevalent method.

Last year, the capacity of renewable energy facilities in South Korea increased approximately 30 percent to 20.9 GW, based on government promotion, and yet its renewable energy-based power generation edged up 3.9 percent to 37,804 GWh. Likewise, its ratio in terms of power generation slightly rose from 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent while the ratio of renewable energy-based facilities to the total power generation facilities jumped from 12.8 percent to 16.1 percent.

The gas-based power generation volume increased 1.1 percent while the facility ratio rose from 31.6 percent to 31.9 percent.