Korea’s renewable energy generation at environmental facilities will double within five years, according to the country’s Ministry of Environment, which announced its renewable energy growth road map on Tuesday.
The ministry announced its attempt to increase renewable energy output at environmental facilities, with an annual production goal of 5,764 GWh by 2026. The target for 2021 is currently 3,264 GWh per year. Environmental facilities range from sewage treatment plants to dams and deal with waste and natural resources.
The ministry also plans to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2030, with an annual production of 8,726 GWh. The plants would be able to generate more energy than they use.
In Korea, there are now 1,341 environmental facilities, including biogas production facilities that create energy from waste materials such as food waste, wastewater treatment plants, dams, and others.
Although these facilities generate 3,264 GWh of renewable energy per year, they are classified as high-energy establishments since they use around 7,625 GWh per year in total. The ministry thus announced that it will double the energy production of the plants by increasing their energy production efficiency.
The ministry also seeks to improve the efficiency of generating energy from organic waste, as biogas is a valuable sustainable energy asset, which is considered as a reasonable option for city gas consumption and is likely to contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emission. The government intends to raise the number of biogas producing facilities from 110 to 140, boosting production by nearly 150%.
In addition, since private companies have shown their interest in creating green hydrogen energy from biomethane, the ministry will seek to help these companies by increasing the number of biomethane production facilities in Korea from two to five.
The ministry also plans to invest in water management and environmental facilities for them to become self-sufficient energy institutions, therefore offsetting Korea’s carbon emissions.
