S. Korea's electricity supply to stabilize from Friday: ministry

South Korea’s electricity supply, which has been put on red alert recently amid a record heat wave, is expected to improve from Friday as the nation enters the summer holiday season, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Wednesday.

Reflecting such forecast, as well as the current level of available power reserves, the government decided not to take demand control actions on companies in July, officials said.

“Due to a disaster-level heat wave and companies’ full-capacity operations ahead of the holiday season, Tuesday’s electricity demand reached a record-high of 924.8 million kilowatts, while the reserve level and the reserve margin hit 7.09 million kilowatts and 7.7 percent, respectively,” said Minister Paik Un-gyu at a press briefing in Sejong Government Complex.

The power supply is considered stable when the reserve margin is above the 10 percent mark, and a supply warning is to be issued when the total reserve level reaches 5 million kilowatts or below and the reserve margin 5 percent or below.

The chief energy policymaker admitted that the unexpected heat caused a setback to the electricity demand forecast, but dismissed concerns of a possible power failure.

“The reserve level of 6.3 million kilowatts that was forecast for Wednesday (afternoon) corresponds to the production of 13 thermal power stations and also more than double the 2.79 million kilowatts reserve back in year 2012,” Paik said.

“Also, starting Friday, the supply situation will take an upturn as the summer holidays start, and by the second week of August, when most companies resume operations, the supply capacity will be expanded by some 1 million kilowatts.”

Given the circumstances, the government decided to refrain from activating the Demand Response -- a pre-arranged system under which corresponding companies agree to reduce electricity usage during peak hours upon request in exchange for incentives.

“We decided to take caution over the DR as most companies are in their last-stage production stage prior to the summer holidays,” said an official of the ministry.

“Having judged that supply management will remain in the reasonable zone this afternoon, we agreed with the Korea Power Exchange not to activate the DR this month.”

Meanwhile, the minister once again denied reports that the reactivation of some local nuclear power plants was a hurried response to the heat wave and the consequent power shortage.

“The realignment schedules of all power plants, including the nuclear ones, were confirmed in April,” Paik said.

“The energy paradigm shift is to take place at an incremental pace over the next 60 years, so it should not be related to this year’s power supply plan.”

Skeptics of the Moon Jae-in administration’s nuclear-free power policy have been suggesting that the drastic change of direction may be irrelevant in the context of the recent climate change and the electricity demand.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)