IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2014 - 76

The proposed ASG aims to interconnect countries
in northeast Asia with electricity generation areas in
the Gobi Desert.

if new projects and fixed capacity under construction are
added together.

RCES and Distributed, Small-Scale Gas
Cogeneration Systems
District heating and community energy heating companies,
along with renewable energy companies, plan to participate
in RCES operations. An RCES using LNG generally consists
of combined heat and power (CHP) generation and cogeneration. These total energy systems generate both electrical

table 6. The overall investment cost outlook,
in billions of KRW; the table uses a constant price
as of the beginning of 2012, excludes investments
in renewables and RCES or CES, and excludes
uncertainty mitigation capacity.
Classification

2013 to
2017

2018 to
2022

2023 to
2027

Total

Nuclear

11,073.6

15,271.5

1,596.5

27,941.6

Coal

24,190.7

4,234.5

LNG

13,524.7

Total

48,789

-
19,506

28,425.2

13,524.7

1,596.5

energy (operating at high temperature) and thermal energy
(operating at low temperature), and they are usually located
in a community complex close to a metropolitan city. The
economic and systemic effects of the RCES business model
need to be evaluated, but it is considered capable of bringing
the following benefits to South Korea:
✔✔ Stable and distributed electrical energy sources, especially small-scale, distributed, LNG-fired combinedcycle plants may facilitate requirements for siting
power plants, meeting clean energy goals, and satisfying reliability targets for electrical energy supply.
✔✔ Alternative energy supplies mitigate challenging construction issues and expensive construction costs, and
they improve power system stability because RCES
operations are located near to the consumer loads.
✔✔ Other environmental and construction benefits of
RES include reduced total energy consumption and
higher efficiency, reduced air pollution through use of
LNG fuel, and expeditious plant construction for these
small generation systems.
Tables 7 and 8 present the RCES in 2014 and RCES in
2002 and 2012, respectively. The RCES generation in South
Korea increased from 6.0% (3,230 MW) in 2002 to 12.2%
(9,981 MW) in 2012, as shown in Table 8.

69,891.5

Conclusions
table 7. The state of the RCES model in 2014.
Companies Plants
Private RCES

Industrial RCES

Private and
industrial RCES

Total

In operation

Under construction

Total

In operation

Under construction

Total

In operation

Under construction

Total

In operation

Under construction

Total

112

ieee power & energy magazine

After the oil crises of the 1970s, South Korea adopted a
national energy strategy emphasizing diversity in the kinds
and supply of energy resources. A significant number of new
nuclear power plants and LNG thermal power plants were
constructed under this government energy strategy. The
energy diversity strategy has enabled a balance of resources
in the electrical energy mix and has facilitated the integration of intermittent resources.
Critical adjustments to that energy policy will be needed,
however, to ensure stable supplies and sustainable economic
growth. The second NBEP of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy was issued in 2013 and includes forecasts of
energy usage. Natural gas demand in South Korea is forecast
to grow by 1.7% annually, to 35.3 million toe in 2035, as compared with 23.7 million toe in 2011. The country's oil demand
is expected to decrease by 0.11% annually, to 99.3 million
toe in 2035, as compared with 102 million toe in 2011. Coal
demand for power generation is expected to increase by 0.6%
annually, reaching 38.6 million toe in 2035, as compared with
33.5 million toe in 2011. Electricity consumption is forecast to
november/december 2014

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