The Ministry of Energy of South Korea has announced that ageing coal-fired power plants would be shut down to limit air pollution and fine dust emissions; around 10 coal-fired power plants of 40 years or more will be the first ones to shut down. In addition, stricter rules for operation and maintenance at the existing coal-fired power plants and projects under construction will be introduced.
Coal still accounts for more than 40% of the country's power mix and South Korea still plans to build 19 new coal-fired power plants by 2022 (15 are already under construction). Coal demand is expected to increase by nearly 40 Mt in the next four to five years (from around 130 Mt in 2015).
South Korea also aims to replace all diesel buses by gas-fuelled ones and to boost the number of alternative fuel service stations (electricity, hydrogen or hybrid) from 347 to 3,100 by 2020.
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