"It is true that we need to increase the use of renewable energy in line with the international community's climate change agreements, but the issue is speed. It must be backed by technological development in energy storage systems (ESS) and improvements in economic viability to compensate for the limitations of renewable energy."
Park Ju-heon, a professor of economics at Dongduk Women's University, said in a recent interview with the Seoul Economic Daily at his campus office in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, that "the Lee Jae-myung government is pursuing a more aggressive renewable energy expansion policy than the Moon Jae-in government." Park earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1990 and handled coal, petroleum, and climate change affairs at the Korea Energy Economics Institute (KEEI). He is regarded as one of Korea's top energy experts, having served as chairman of the board at Korea National Oil Corporation, head of KEEI, and president of the Korea Resource Economics Association.
The government finalized and announced its 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) last November, targeting a 53–61% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 levels by 2035. To achieve this, it is pursuing the phase-out of coal-fired power generation by 2040 and the expansion of renewable energy generation capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 — roughly three times the current level of approximately 30 GW. Additionally, as Iran's threatened blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has raised concerns over Korea's crude oil supply, the need to expand renewable energy use as an alternative has been growing.
Park pointed out that the fundamental limitation of "intermittency" must be considered before expanding renewable energy use. Solar power can only generate electricity when the sun shines, and wind power only when the wind blows. This makes it necessary to install ESS units that serve as batteries to store electricity for use during periods when power is not being generated. "Because building ESS is very costly, the financial burden grows as renewable energy generation increases," he explained. "Moreover, ESS can only store electricity for a few hours at most." In Korea's case, the sun does not shine for several days during the monsoon season, making it difficult for solar power to meet the high electricity demand during that period, he noted.
Park also raised the issue of renewable energy's economic viability, meaning that higher production costs make electricity rate increases inevitable. "Both solar and wind power fundamentally have higher production costs than nuclear and thermal power," he said. "So if we want to supply electricity reliably centered on renewable energy, consumers must be prepared to pay much higher electricity rates than they do now."
He also cited Korea's industrial structure — centered on energy-intensive industries such as semiconductors, steel, and petrochemicals — as a reason to be cautious about expanding renewable energy. "Countries whose economies are centered on low-energy-consuming industries like finance and services can manage with renewable-energy-based power generation without major problems, but Korea would face critical issues with power supply and demand," he said. Park noted that "Korea's carbon dioxide emissions account for only about 1.5% of the global total," expressing the view that Korea does not need to take a leading role in climate change response on the international stage. "Both the former Moon Jae-in government and the Lee Jae-myung government have tried to take the lead in climate change response internationally," he said. "Since climate change cannot be solved by Korea alone reducing its carbon dioxide emissions, it is appropriate to follow the pace of countries with similar emission levels."
Park proposed expanding nuclear power as an alternative until technological development and economic viability improvements for renewable energy are achieved. His reasoning is that nuclear power emits relatively less carbon dioxide than coal and can compensate for the shortcomings of renewable energy. "The low-carbon energy sources currently available to humanity are renewable energy and nuclear power," he said. "Nuclear power has had some accidents such as Chernobyl during the Soviet era, but it has been used relatively safely over a long period and is the most realistic alternative." Regarding claims by some that Korea's nuclear power plant density is too high relative to its small land area, Park pushed back, calling it "merely a pretext for opposing nuclear power." He countered, "How could the density not be high given Korea's small territory? By that logic, what about solar panels?"
He also criticized the fact that the renewable energy issue, a matter of national importance, has become excessively politicized. "The framing that supporting the nuclear phase-out makes you left-wing and opposing it makes you right-wing — or that supporting renewable energy expansion makes you left-wing and opposing it makes you right-wing — this factional logic takes precedence," Park said. "Under this structure, it is difficult to have a normal discussion that objectively compares the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy."
The government implemented a petroleum price ceiling system starting May 13 in response to crude oil supply instability stemming from the Middle East. Regarding this measure, Park expressed concern that "from an economics standpoint, it will generate excess demand that does not match prices" and that "it could have a negative effect on improving Korea's vulnerable external energy structure as a resource-poor country." He noted that the government will have no choice but to provide financial support to refiners and others suffering losses from the price ceiling, meaning taxpayer money will ultimately be used to support certain companies and specific groups. Park also remarked, "When the government artificially adjusts energy prices, it may achieve political and policy objectives in the short term, but the lesson proven by humanity's long experience is that it will eventually pay a steep price."
