South Korea’s installed renewable-energy capacity has surpassed coal-fired capacity for the first time, reaching 41,040 MW on Oct. 21, according to the Korea Power Exchange. That is 283 MW more than the country’s 40,757 MW of coal-fired capacity.
Renewables now account for 25.4% of South Korea’s installed generation capacity, making them the country’s second-largest source of installed capacity after liquefied natural gas (LNG), at 46,788 MW. The gap between renewables and LNG has narrowed to about 5,748 MW, said KPX.
Renewable capacity grew by an average of about 3,504 MW a year between the end of 2020 and the end of 2025, about 4.3 times the roughly 807 MW added annually for LNG. KPX said that if both trends continue, renewables could overtake LNG within two to three years to become South Korea’s largest source of installed generation capacity. The Export-Import Bank of Korea said it expects South Korea to install 3.5 GW of solar in 2026.
The figures refer to installed capacity rather than electricity generation.
KPX said it will support the government’s target of 100 GW of renewables by 2030 by closely tracking deployment, expanding public data disclosure and working with industry and related agencies.
Grid expansion
The milestone follows a government plan to expand grid capacity for renewables. It aims to raise national transmission-level hosting capacity for renewables from 119 GW to 171 GW by 2030 and distribution-level capacity from 84 GW to 110 GW.
The plan also allows solar projects to connect above normal grid limits, with output curtailed when the network is constrained, and raises the solar connection limit on a distribution line from 14 MW to 16 MW and at a substation from 50 MW to 60 MW. Under the plan, grid connection rights will be linked to a reformed renewable portfolio standard (RPS) from January 2027, with access granted to projects selected through competitive bidding rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.
KPX opened a tender on Sept. 22 for 1,100 MW/6,600 MWh of six-hour energy storage on the mainland, plus 80 MW on Jeju Island, under 15-year contracts, with winners due to be announced in November and commissioning required by February 2029.
South Korea’s solar additions surpassed 3.1 GW in 2024 and reached 3.1 GW again in 2025. The country’s First Renewable Energy Basic Plan, published earlier this year, includes roughly 56.2 GW of new solar capacity as part of its 100 GW renewables target.
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