At 3 PM on the 7th, Total Power Demand Surpasses 100GW... A Historic First

Maximum Power Demand of 58GW in July 2007
Doubled in 16 Years, Power Supply Remains Stable

On the 7th at 3 PM, it was estimated that over 100GW (gigawatts) of electricity was used. This is the first time in history that the average hourly total power demand exceeded 100GW.

On the afternoon of the 7th, officials are monitoring the power supply situation at the Grid Operation Center of the Power Management Department, Gyeonggi Regional Headquarters of Korea Electric Power Corporation in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the Korea Power Exchange's 'Hourly Solar Power Estimation Statistics' on the 9th, the estimated average total power demand from 2 to 3 PM on the 7th was 100.571GW.

This estimate includes ▲demand within the power market of the Korea Power Exchange ▲Korea Electric Power Corporation's (KEPCO) direct purchase agreements (PPA), which mostly consist of solar power generation, and ▲small-scale self-use solar power generation outside the power market.

Among these, solar power output was 14.205GW, accounting for 14.1% of the total demand.

However, the Korea Power Exchange clarified that the total power demand exceeding 100GW is an estimate, not an official tally. This is because it is difficult to accurately measure the output of self-use solar power generation traded outside the power market, so prediction errors must be considered.

As of March this year, the total solar power capacity is 26.4GW. Of this, the capacity selling electricity through the power market mediated by the Korea Power Exchange is 7.4GW, the capacity under PPA with KEPCO is 14.5GW, and the estimated capacity of self-use facilities installed on house roofs or apartment balconies is 4.5GW.

Considering that the maximum power demand in July 2007 was 57.913GW, the maximum total power demand has doubled in 16 years.

The power supply and demand are stable. According to the Korea Power Exchange, the power reserve margin, an indicator showing the state of power supply and demand, mostly exceeded 20% this summer. The power reserve margin is calculated by dividing the reserve power (supply capacity minus maximum demand) by the maximum power demand.

Last month, the days when the power reserve margin fell below 20% were only on the 7th, with the lowest reserve margin recorded at 17%.

In contrast, in July last year, the number of days with a reserve margin below 20% was more than twice this year, totaling 20 days, and among them, two days (July 5?6) recorded single-digit percentages.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.