Status of renewable capacity for electricity generation and future prospects in Korea: Global trends and domestic strategies

Abstract

The global community has recently begun adopting renewable energy in order to reduce the production of greenhouse gases and address the issue of global warming. In particular, each nation is increasing its electricity generation from renewables to reduce fossil fuel usage, which accounts for about 78% of global final energy consumption, as well as being the key cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, this study analyzes the overseas renewable capacity for electricity generation and presents the issues facing the Korean renewable capacity for electricity generation, in addition to outlining a strategy and direction for Korea's future supply of electricity generated from renewables. The total global renewable capacity for electricity generation in 2013 was about 1560 GW, whereas in contrast, the total domestic renewable capacity or electricity generation in 2013 was about 4.251 GW. In analyzing the Korean capacity as a percentage of the total global capacity by each sector, Korean hydro was shown to provide 0.17% of the global total, wind 0.17%, solar PV 1.09%, bio 0.19% and ocean 48.11%. In addition, this study compares the domestic renewable capacity with the renewable capacity in OECD countries, and in countries with a similar GDP to that of Korea. The results show that compared with other OECD countries, Korea is ranked lowest in terms of renewables as a percentage of total electricity generation 3.7% with the exception of Turkey and Israel. Even compared with countries that did not set 2020 targets for electricity generation from renewables, Korea's renewable capacity was ranked the lowest. Accordingly, intensive investment in solar PV and wind is required to expand the domestic renewable capacity, keep pace with the trends in global capacity and investment, and meet Korea's global commitments.