S.KOREA WITHOUT COAL

ENERDATA- 12 Nov 2021 - The South Korean state-owned power utility Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), and its six affiliates Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), Korea South-East Power, Korea Midland Power, Korea Western Power, Korea Southern Power, and Korea East-West Power, have pledged to exit coal-fired power generation by 2050.

Under its “Zero for Green” vision, KEPCO plans to commercialise carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology by 2030 and apply it to coal-fired power generation worth 500 MW and gas-fired power generation worth 150 MW. The group aims to halve the cost of CCUS. Coal-fired power plants would be shut down by 2050. To make up for the electricity generated by coal, the company will develop offshore wind plants on the southern coast of the country, green hydrogen, and energy storage systems. KEPCO will also blend ammonia with natural gas at the ratio of 2:8 and burn them together inside gas-fired plants by 2027. Then, the company will mix pure hydrogen with natural gas at 1:1 by 2028.

KEPCO is responsible for most of South Korea’s power production with an installed capacity of around 91 GW (around 70% of the total capacity in 2020), including 38 GW of coal, 24 GW of nuclear and 19 GW of gas.

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