POWER November 2013 - 38

Power Policy
4. Strained supplies. South Korea suffered strained power supplies this summer, stemming
from forced reactor shutdowns ordered last November at the Yeonggwang nuclear complex
(shown here) owned by state company Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., which operates the
nation's 23 nuclear reactors. The measure followed KHNP's admission that eight unnamed firms
that supplied parts had faked 60 certificates covering 7,682 nuclear power components over a
period of nearly 10 years, from 2003 to 2012-affecting at least five reactors. Later in May 2013, a
separate scandal involving forged documentation for safety-related control cabling prompted the
shutdown of Shin Kori 1 and 2 and Shin Wolsong 1 and delayed startup approval for the newly built
Shin Wolsong 2. South Korea's government has since announced new measures responding to
the quality control scandal and safety problems to include new procedures for procuring reactor
parts and dealing with mechanical problems. Courtesy: Korea Yeonggwang NPP
ment also wants 15.7 GW of wind power
to be generated by 2022 in addition to the
existing 480 MW. South Korean conglomerates
have begun to invest significantly in
offshore wind farms in the southeast part of
the country, and the government has boosted
its support by announcing a strategy
to attract $8.2 billion to develop offshore
wind farms with a capacity of at least 2.5
GW by 2019. Solar, far underdeveloped,
will fare best in South Korea's southern
coastal area, and geothermal capacity has
remained stagnant at 229 MW, notes the
government. Several KEPCO subsidiaries
are meanwhile focusing on biomass using
pellets as a means to achieving the RPS.
Perhaps South Korea's most promising renewable
efforts are in marine energy, where
it hopes to benefit from strong tidal flows
around the Korean Peninsula. Funded partly
by the Korean government, the Korea Water
Resources Corp. (KWRC) in 2011 put into
operation the 254-MW Lake Sihwa tidal
power station, a tidal barrage that uses 10
submerged 25.4-MW bulb turbines to generate
power (Figure 5). That project is the
world's biggest tidal power station today.
Transmission and Distribution. As of
December 2012, South Korea's transmission
grid consisted of three systems of 765
kV and 345 kV for trunk routes and 154 kV
or 66 kV for local networks-all owned and
operated by KEPCO-of over 31,622 kiits
energy self-sufficiency, though as it
stands today, the country's share of renewables
is so meager that it ranks at the bottom
of all OECD countries, says the IEA.
In 2012, it replaced feed-in tariffs (FITs)
with a renewable portfolio standard (RPS)
that applies to power providers with more
than 500 MW in generating capacity and
requires that the 13 largest public and private
utilities purchase or generate renewable
energy at a rate equal to 10% of their
share of total energy by 2022.
Some experts point out that in the year
since the RPS was adopted, new facility capacity
has jumped by 620 MW-nearly half
that accumulated under FITs over the past
decade. Others note that despite incentives
like a 5% tax credit, long-term low-interest
loans, and halved import duties on renewable
plant components to encourage more private
firms to take a lead in the development of
renewables, the fledgling sector continues to
lag behind global competition.
Yet others simply point to the country's
massive potential. Only 5% of the potential
estimated for large-scale and smallscale
hydropower has been realized-even
though hydro is the country's top renewable
source, the government says. The govern38
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POWER
| November 2013
5. Tidal power title-holder. The Korea Water Resources Corp. in August 2011 put into
operation the 254-MW Lake Sihwa tidal power station in the country's northwest Gyeonggi
Province, a tidal barrage that uses 10 submerged bulb turbines that are driven in an unpumped
flood generation scheme. The project's capacity surpasses the1966-built 240-MW Rance Tidal
Power Station in France, making it the world's biggest tidal power station. Courtesy: KWRC

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POWER November 2013

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