South Korea has unveiled plans to quadruple its renewables capacity by 2034 as it aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

According to local media, the final draft of the Ninth Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand 2020-34, which was released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated that the share of renewables in the country’s power generation capacity will rise from 16.7% today to 41.9% by 2034.

With total electricity demand expected to surge from 120.5GW this year to 185.3GW, this equates to a growth in renewables capacity from 20.1GW to 77.8GW by 2034 — an almost fourfold increase. Of this, 42.7GW of wind and solar are due to be installed by 2025. And the country also has a separate target of installing 12GW of offshore wind by 2030.

However, due to the lower capacity factor of wind and solar, renewables are expected to account for only 20.8% of the electricity supply by 2030.

The South Korean government has slightly increased its green ambitions since May, when an earlier draft of the Ninth Basic Plan called for renewables to represent 40% of generation capacity in 2034.

The final draft also states that 30 coal-fired power plants will be closed by 2034 as they reach the end of their operational lifetimes. However, seven coal plants currently under construction will be built as planned, causing installed coal-fired capacity to fall only slightly — from 35.8GW this year to 29GW in 2034.

Nuclear capacity will also fall slightly, from 23.3GW to 19.4GW over the same period.

In October, South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced that the country would aim to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Transition

South Korea unveils plan to quadruple renewables capacity to 78GW by 2034