South Korea’s renewables exceed coal capacity for first time
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
In South Korea, renewable energy sources reached 41,040 MW of installed capacity on October 21, surpassing the country’s 40,757 MW of coal-fired power.
The Korea Power Exchange (KPX) reported that renewables now represent 25.4% of South Korea’s total installed generation capacity, making them the second-largest source after liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Renewable capacity in the country has grown at an average rate of 3,504 MW per year from 2020 to 2025, which is 4.3 times faster than the annual growth of LNG capacity. KPX anticipates that renewables could become the largest source of installed generation capacity within two to three years if current trends continue. To support this growth, the South Korean government is expanding grid capacity, aiming to increase national transmission-level hosting capacity for renewables to 171 GW by 2030.
The government also plans to link grid connection rights to a reformed renewable portfolio standard starting in January 2027, granting access through competitive bidding. KPX recently launched a tender for 1,100 MW of energy storage to be commissioned by February 2029, and expects 3.5 GW of new solar capacity to be installed in 2026 as part of a broader 100 GW renewables target for 2030.
