South Korea’s green shift

By Warwick Forster on 10 July 2012

South Korea is a nation that emerged from the aftermath of the Korean War in 1953 as one of the poorest in the world but rapid development and industrialisation since the 1980’s has seen it progress to be the world’s 15th largest economy in 2011. This is despite the fact that it is only a nation of 50 million people with limited natural resources.

However, with this prosperity come challenges; South Korea is also the 9th largest national user of fossil fuels and the world’s 9th largest emitter of greenhouse emissions, according to KEMCO (Korea Energy Management Corporation).

South Korea imports most of its raw materials for both energy production and its manufacturing industry. Currently, the majority of its electricity is sourced from a mix of imported coal, gas and nuclear fuel. At present, only 2.61 per cent of its energy is sourced from renewables, and this is because South Korea’s geography tends to be hilly, which is not suitable for wind, or highly urbanised, which is unsuitable for extensive PV deployment. Of the existing renewables, 70.9 per cent is from waste-to-energy facilities and 11.6 per cent from hydro power.

The Korean government and industry have seen “green growth” as an opportunity to improve resource management in the country and as a potential competitive advantage in export markets. Domestically, some of this progress can be already seen in the conversion of the Sudokwon Landfill site – located near Incheon, it’s the world’s largest at 20 million square meters – which is being utilised in a more sustainable way. Its waste landfill gases are captured powering a 50MW power station, its land has been reclaimed for an environmental theme park, 36 hole golf course, soccer fields and tennis courts; whilst its Environmental energy town will use solar, wind and waste-to-energy technologies for power generation.