Geothermal utilization in Korea revolves around geothermal heat pump (GHP) installations with an annual capacity increase of about 100 MWth resulting from an active government subsidy program and a "Mandatory Act" for renewable energy deployment in civic facilities. The total installed GHP capacity Contact online >>
Geothermal utilization in Korea revolves around geothermal heat pump (GHP) installations with an annual capacity increase of about 100 MWth resulting from an active government subsidy program and a "Mandatory Act" for renewable energy deployment in civic facilities. The total installed GHP capacity is ~1770 MWth at the end of 2023.
GSHP installations and hybrid system R&D projects in conjunction with solar PV or biomass are being researched looking at the synergies in the use of different renewable energy sources. Underground thermal energy storage is also a topic of interest.
The IEA Geothermal Implementing Agreement (GIA), also known as IEA Geothermal or as the Implementing Agreement for a Cooperative Programme on Geothermal Energy Research and Technology, functions within the Technology Collaboration Programme framework of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Views, findings and publications of IEA Geothermal (IEA GIA) do not represent the views or policies of the IEA Secretariat or of the IEA member countries.
Sprouting from rooftops and hanging from balconies, solar panels are no longer an unusual sight on homes across North Korea. In other parts of the world, the emergence of household solar panels has been part of a push for green energy solutions, but this is not the case in North Korea. Instead, the panels are a testament to the state''s chronic inability to provide adequate and consistent electricity to its citizens despite numerous power production projects attempted over the years.
While the regime regularly promises to solve the electricity problem, the vast majority of North Koreans remain severely energy deprived. Those in Pyongyang may get power every day, though with rolling blackouts. But for some in the more remote areas of the country, this could mean only getting power one day a year. The inability to meet energy demands and widely uneven distribution has held back the country''s economic development for decades, hampering industrial production and keeping living standards low for most of the population.
In this new series, 38 North will look at the current state of North Korea''s energy sector, including the country''s major hydro and fossil fuel power stations, the state''s push for local-scale hydro, the growing use of renewable energy and research and development into new energy sources.
North Korea''s energy problems—and the state''s promises to fix them—are almost as old as the country itself. After the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japanese colonialism in 1945, the northern half of the peninsula relied on its abundant water resources to generate electricity. Despite damage to several major hydroelectric power stations during the Korean War, a three-year recovery period following the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 allowed North Korea to restore its damaged power plants.
After that, the country set about expanding its electricity network to reach the entire country and power the national economy. From 1961 to 1967, North Korea focused on large-scale hydro and thermal plants to electrify its rail transport systems and pushed the power grid into every "ri" (village) in the country.
But things started to falter. Further expansion of the power system in the seven-year plan from 1978 to 1984 faced difficulties due to decreased coal production and the low quality of North Korean coal resources. The following seven-year plan from 1987 to 1993 faced further challenges caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and economic liberalization of China—North Korea''s key trading partners and supporters at the time.
Under the Agreed Framework of 1994, the United States promised to provide North Korea with two 1-gigawatt light water nuclear reactors in exchange for Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear weapons ambitions. However, after the collapse of the Agreed Framework, reactor construction was suspended in 2003 and eventually terminated in 2006.
In the meantime, North Korea began instituting a new system of small- and medium-sized power plants in 2000. The scheme was intended to meet electricity demands in small factories and homes. This policy continues today, with new networks of small-scale hydropower plants that serve local areas and do not transmit large amounts of electricity across the nation, avoiding the problem caused by the country''s crumbling power transmission network.[1]
But these efforts have been woefully inadequate. Over the last four decades, North Korea''s total generating capacity has risen just 64 percent compared to a 1,275 percent rise over the same period in South Korea, according to estimates from Statistics Korea.
Fully understanding North Korea''s energy sector is difficult. The state does not release data about its power generation capacity, and foreign estimates can vary widely. Two of the most cited statistics come from Statistics Korea and the Nautilus Institute.
Both agree that hydro supplies the largest portion of electricity to the country and are in broad agreement on the amount. Statistics Korea estimates hydro supplied 12.8 TWh in 2020, while Nautilus estimated 10.7 TWh.
But the two diverge on assessments of the country''s thermal power production capacity, which consists mostly of coal-fired power plants. Statistics Korea estimates thermal power stations in North Korea supplied 11.2 TWh of electricity in 2020, while Nautilus estimates this at just 3.3 TWh. There is not enough information about the methodology of each survey to explain the difference.
The North Korean government does not release detailed data, but an official of the Ministry of Electric Power Industry was quoted in the magazine Korea Today in 2021 as saying 70 percent of the country''s energy came from renewables. That assertion seems to align more closely with the Nautilus estimates than those from Statistics Korea.
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