South Korea To Close up to 28 of its 60 Coal-fired Power Plants This Month

South Korea will idle up to 28 of its coal-fired power plants in March, scaling up the country’s ongoing efforts to curb air pollution, the Energy Ministry said on Sunday. South Korea has implemented temporary shutdowns of the country’s coal-fired power plants that are more than 30 years old since 2017. Four old coal-fired power plants, up to 16 plants for planned maintenance and up to eight other plants are subject to the shutdown in March, the ministry said in a statement. South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has about 60 coal-fired power plants, generating around 40% of the country’s electricity.

The developed world has done a fairly good job in removing coal from its grid mix. The problem is countries like India and China, with their enormous populations and rapid urbanization, requiring a sharp increase in electrical power.

The only scenario that works here is one in which wealthy counties with large R&D facilities, like the United States, develops and exports low carbon energy solutions to countries unable to do this on their own.

The problem here, of course, is the political climate. At this point, projectile vomiters are more popular than those who promote the concept of helping poor countries.