Gov’t braces for soaring power demand in summer

The government is bolstering energy reserves to prevent possible blackouts triggered by an earlier and more intense heatwave in the summer, while electricity demand this year is expected to peak in the second week of August, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Thursday.

The short-term energy demand is also affected by ongoing geopolitical uncertainties from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, a power supply risk set to push down this year’s reserve energy supply rate to a multiyear low.

Further fanning the bleak outlook is the electricity price increase that took effect July 1, straining not only low-income households and the self-employed but also industries cornered to shoulder increases in production costs and other expenses. The government plans to raise the nuclear power supply to 20.7 gigawatts (GW) in the second week of August, up from 17.7 GW a year earlier.

The ministry said the minimum power supply reserve, measured by the difference between supply capacity and demand, is expected to peak at 5.2 GW in the second week of August.

The five-year low will be almost half that of 9.6 GW in 2021. The figure was 7.1 GW in 2018, followed by 6.1 GW in 2019 and 8.9 GW in 2020.

It is also lower than 10 GW, a psychologically significant level against which the government’s emergency contingency energy response measures are structured, in the event of an unexpected shutdown of power generators.

The 5.2 GW forecast is also close to falling below 5.5 GW, a level that will trigger a national emergency alert for power supply, in what is likely to become the first in almost a decade. The last one was issued in August of 2013.

The government said the maximum electricity demand this summer will be between 91.7 GW and 95.7 GW, exceeding last year’s peak of 91.1GW in July 2021. The supply capacity total will remain at 100.9 GW, similar to last year’s 100.7 GW.

The government will increase the power reserve by 9.2 GW, driven by the higher power output of nuclear power plants and energy conservation campaigns involving 280 state-managed buildings nationwide.

The government will operate a special power demand monitoring system from July 4 and Sept. 8, overseen by Korea Power Exchange, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and its subsidiaries.

Second Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Park Il-jun said the government will mobilize policy efforts to meet the surging energy demand in the summer.