South Korea’s state power utility KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation, 51.1% state-owned) plans to increase coal-fired electricity generation temporarily in 2022 in an effort to cut its costs and boost its financial health.
In 2022, KEPCO plans to produce 12.8 TWh of power by using its coal-fired capacities instead of using LNG, which amounts to nearly 8% of the country's total LNG-fired electricity generation of about 160 TWh. In 2021, the company produced 400 TWh of electricity, with 172 TWh of coal (43%), 158 TWh of nuclear (40%) and nearly 55 TWh of gas (14%).
According to KEPCO, the cost for producing 1 kWh using LNG amounts to KRW170 (US$11c), compared with about KRW96 (US$7c) for coal.
In 2021, KEPCO had more than 90 GW of installed capacity, including 37 GW of coal-fired capacity and 19 GW of gas-fired capacity. Nuclear is also a major energy for KEPCO, with an installed capacity of 24 GW. In May 2022, the company announced it will sell all its coal-fired power plants outside of South Korea (7.5 GW).
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