South Korean Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Choe Nam-ho doubts that relying solely on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind will be enough to achieve net zero emissions. He says each country faces different challenges, and in Korea’s case, geographic challenges make it difficult to deploy intermittent sources of generation such as wind and solar power nationwide.
Wind and sun are not enough
Currently, renewable energy sources constitute less than 10 percent of the energy mix The goal is to double that by the end of the decade and triple it by 2038. Even if that plan is achieved, renewable energy will still account for less than a third of the country’s total energy generation. To plug the gap, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration wants to rely on nuclear reactors, which currently supply about 30 percent of the country’s electricity.South Koreans also want modernize fossil fuel power plants to mix or co-fire hydrogen with coal and gas.
South Korea’s Energy Mix: Renewables and Nuclear to Make Up Most of Electricity Generation Under Proposed New Energy Strategy / Bloomberg
Hydrogen co-firing is a controversial technology
Technology critics co-combustion of hydrogen with fossil fuels say it’s expensive, inefficient and releases other greenhouse gases, and hydrogen still hasn’t been deployed on a large scale anywhere in the world. And the expansion of nuclear and hydrogen could slow the expansion of solar and wind power, which will become cheaper in the coming years, according to BloombergNEF.
Energy-intensive industries require stable energy
The country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels has put South Korea at a disadvantage in meeting global emissions reduction goals.
South Korea must ensure stable energy supplies for energy-intensive industries, such as the semiconductor sector, and must consider trade-offs to come up with the best plan, Choe said.
In his opinion, generating energy from burning hydrogen provides flexibility and will help solve the intermittency problems that occur with solar and wind power. Choe added that using emission-free sources such as nuclear, hydrogen and other clean energy technologies are becoming a realistic way to achieve net zero emissions.
