Photo: YONHAP News
The government has confirmed the 9th Basic Electric Power Supply and Demand Plan by 2034, reducing the proportion of coal and nuclear power generation and increasing the amount of renewable energy significantly.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that the ninth power plan, which included the forecast of power supply and demand, power generation facility plans, and greenhouse gas reduction measures, for 15 years from this year to 2034, was confirmed through the Power Policy Deliberation.
According to the 9th plan, 30 coal power plants with 30 years of operation until 2034 will be abolished, and 24 of them will be converted to liquefied natural gas or LNG power generation. Seven coal power plants currently under construction will be completed as scheduled.
Nuclear power plants peaked at 26 units in 2022 when Shin-Kori units 5 and 6 are completed in accordance with the principle of prohibiting new construction and life extension, and then reduced to 17 units by 2034.
Among new and renewable energy, we plan to increase the share of the total power by increasing the speed of supply of solar and wind power generation.
If this power plan proceeds smoothly, renewable power generation will account for the most 40.3% of facilities in 2034, LNG will account for 30.6%, coal power generation 15.0%, and nuclear power plants will take up 10.1%.
Compared to this year, renewables increase by 24.5 percentage points, LNG decreases by 1.7 percentage points, coal 13.1 percentage points, and nuclear power plants decrease by 8.1 percentage points.
The greenhouse gas reduction target is planned to be achieved by reducing the amount of coal generated.
The Ministry of Industry said that it is planning to meet the target of 191 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the conversion sector as of 2030 by reducing coal power generation.
This is a 23.6% decrease from the 252 million tonnes in 2017, and the proportion of annual coal power generation is expected to decrease from 40.4% in 2019 to 29.9% in 2030.
According to the 9th plan, the maximum power demand in 2034 is projected to be 117.5GW. The target demand combined with the demand management target and the spread of electric vehicles is 102.5GW.
The average annual growth rate of the maximum power is 1.0%, and it is analyzed that it will decrease by 0.3%p compared to the 8th power plan due to the decline in the annual average economic growth forecast.