South Korea coal-fired power generation hit record high levels in 2017

• 6 years ago (2018-02-19)
• David Flin

Asia 846 Coal 273

---

South Korea’s coal-fired power generation reached new highs in 2017, despite government efforts to switch to renewable sources. Figures from the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) revealed that the country’s coal-based power generation totalled 217,037 GWh from January to November 2017, exceeding the previous record of 213,803 GWh for the same period in 2016.

In addition, the proportion of coal-fired power generation involved in total production rose 3.6 per cent over the year to 43.2 per cent, the highest since 2009. By contrast, nuclear power and power from LNG fell by 2.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively, to 27.5 per cent and 20.8 per cent.

The rise in coal-fired generation was the result of new facilities coming online in 2017. Three new facilities with a combined capacity of 5.3 GW started generation last year, while the temporary suspension of 11 of the country’s 24 nuclear reactors caused a fall in nuclear output.