By Kim Jae-won
The country's power consumption hit a record high for the summer as people turned on their air conditioners to cool off in extremely hot weather, the state power exchange agency said Monday.
The Korea Power Exchange (KPX) said that power consumption reached 80.22 million kilowatts at 3 p.m., breaking the previous summer time record for this year of 78.2 million kilowatts two weeks ago. It was the first time that the demand surpassed 80 million kilowatts in the summer. The all-time record high was 82.97 million kilowatts on Jan. 21.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy forecast that power consumption will increase further to 81.7 million kilowatts this summer. This is because temperatures are expected to rise higher in August than in previous years.
But, the ministry said that people do not need to worry about power shortages because it has more than 10 percent of reserved electricity compared to demand as four new power plants were added before this summer.
"We will spare no efforts to supply power sustainably," said the ministry. "We will monitor carefully on changes in power consumption and weather."
Korea's power supply is expected to mark 92.1 million kilowatts this summer, up 2.5 million from a year ago, according to the government.
Seoul's temperature was at 29.2 Celsius degree at noon Monday with a 73 percent humidity rate, the nation's state weather agency said. Temperatures in the other parts of the country ranged from 23 to 32 degrees.
People said that they turned their air conditioners on day and night to beat the heat.
"It is extremely hot. I have to sit in front of an air conditioner in this hot and humid weather," said Lim Soo-hyang, 37, a housewife in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Critics said that the country needs to pay more attention to renewable energy to supply clean and sustainable power. Robert Barker, head of sustainable investments at BNP Paribas, said that Korea is on the right track to renewable energy, though it has a long way to go compared with the leaders in the sector such as Germany and the Netherlands.
"Korea's ambitious emissions reduction target, a 37 percent reduction by 2030, is targeted mainly from energy industrial processes, agriculture, waste, efficient buildings and fuel efficient transport improvements, although the country's energy mix is still dominated by coal," said Barker. "Policy constraints in renewable energy sector exist, with very strong fossil fuel incumbent capacity."
Almost 33 percent of German electricity came from renewable sources last year, according to Clean Technica, an analysis website. In Korea, the figure is less than 5 percent.
The country's power consumption hit a record high for the summer as people turned on their air conditioners to cool off in extremely hot weather, the state power exchange agency said Monday.
The Korea Power Exchange (KPX) said that power consumption reached 80.22 million kilowatts at 3 p.m., breaking the previous summer time record for this year of 78.2 million kilowatts two weeks ago. It was the first time that the demand surpassed 80 million kilowatts in the summer. The all-time record high was 82.97 million kilowatts on Jan. 21.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy forecast that power consumption will increase further to 81.7 million kilowatts this summer. This is because temperatures are expected to rise higher in August than in previous years.
But, the ministry said that people do not need to worry about power shortages because it has more than 10 percent of reserved electricity compared to demand as four new power plants were added before this summer.
"We will spare no efforts to supply power sustainably," said the ministry. "We will monitor carefully on changes in power consumption and weather."
Korea's power supply is expected to mark 92.1 million kilowatts this summer, up 2.5 million from a year ago, according to the government.
Seoul's temperature was at 29.2 Celsius degree at noon Monday with a 73 percent humidity rate, the nation's state weather agency said. Temperatures in the other parts of the country ranged from 23 to 32 degrees.
People said that they turned their air conditioners on day and night to beat the heat.
"It is extremely hot. I have to sit in front of an air conditioner in this hot and humid weather," said Lim Soo-hyang, 37, a housewife in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Critics said that the country needs to pay more attention to renewable energy to supply clean and sustainable power. Robert Barker, head of sustainable investments at BNP Paribas, said that Korea is on the right track to renewable energy, though it has a long way to go compared with the leaders in the sector such as Germany and the Netherlands.
"Korea's ambitious emissions reduction target, a 37 percent reduction by 2030, is targeted mainly from energy industrial processes, agriculture, waste, efficient buildings and fuel efficient transport improvements, although the country's energy mix is still dominated by coal," said Barker. "Policy constraints in renewable energy sector exist, with very strong fossil fuel incumbent capacity."
Almost 33 percent of German electricity came from renewable sources last year, according to Clean Technica, an analysis website. In Korea, the figure is less than 5 percent.
