Government Finalizes 11th Basic Electricity Plan... Construction of 3 New Nuclear Power Plants

Construction of Two Large Nuclear Power Plants and One Small Modular Reactor

On the 7th, as heatwaves and tropical nights continue across most regions nationwide, officials are checking the power supply situation at the System Operation Center of the Power Management Department, Korea Electric Power Corporation Gyeonggi Headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand (Electricity Basic Plan), centered on the construction of two large nuclear power plants and one small modular reactor (SMR), has been finalized.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 21st that it held the Electricity Policy Deliberation Committee and finalized the 11th Electricity Basic Plan, which will apply from 2024 to 2038.

The Electricity Basic Plan includes a harmonious utilization of various carbon-free energy sources such as nuclear power, renewable energy, and hydrogen to stably respond to newly increasing electricity demand from AI, semiconductors, and other sectors.

The ministry stated, "The construction of two new large nuclear power plants and one SMR will revitalize the nuclear power ecosystem, and it is expected to add momentum to various policy efforts to distribute an average of 7GW of renewable energy annually by 2030."

The government forecasts that electricity demand will increase by an average of 1.8% annually, reaching 129.3GW by 2038. In particular, new demands that did not exist before, such as the Yongin semiconductor cluster (1.4GW), data centers (4.4GW), electric vehicles, and hydrogen reduction steelmaking introduction (11GW), are expected to increase.

The government designed to meet this demand increase mainly through nuclear power and renewable energy. The share of carbon-free energy generation will expand from 39.1% in 2023 to 53.0% in 2030 and 70.7% in 2038. The shares of nuclear power and renewable energy will increase from 31.8% and 18.8% in 2030 to 35.2% and 29.2% in 2038, respectively. Additionally, the share of hydrogen and ammonia power generation will rise from 2.4% in 2030 to 6.2% in 2038.

Accordingly, two nuclear power plants with a capacity of 1.4GW will be introduced between 2037 and 2038. Also, a next-generation small modular reactor (SMR) with a capacity of 0.7GW will be introduced between 2035 and 2036. Renewable energy generation capacity will expand from 78GW in 2030 to 121.9GW in 2038, with large-scale offshore wind development and installation of solar power facilities within industrial complexes being promoted.

With the finalization of the 11th Electricity Basic Plan, follow-up procedures to secure new power generation facilities and backup facilities will be promoted. In particular, to ensure the timely entry of new nuclear power plants, project operators plan to promptly begin procedures for site selection.

The government also plans to smoothly proceed with the main bidding for LNG capacity market to secure new combined heat and power generation, selection of new ESS operators such as battery storage systems and pumped storage power, and the design of a carbon-free bidding market.

Furthermore, the '11th Long-term Transmission and Transformation Facility Plan,' a follow-up plan based on the Electricity Basic Plan's facility plan, is scheduled to be established in the first half of this year, and the '16th Long-term Natural Gas Supply and Demand Plan' is scheduled for the second half of the year.

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