Analysis on the Variability of Renewable Energy in 2034 and Importance of Gas Turbine of South Korea

In line with the global carbon–neutral policy and renewable energy conversion policy, South Korea is also attempting to change energy mix from traditional generation into renewable energy such as Photovoltaic (PV), wind power, and fuel cells. According to The 9th Basic Plan for Long-term Electricity Supply and Demand, the capacity of renewable power generation facilities is 77.8GW, accounting for 40.3% out of the total facility capacity of 193GW in 2034. As the capacity of renewable energy increases, power system operators have to overcome the intermittency and variability of renewable energy caused by real-time weather changes. Enough amount of fast-responding resources is essential to cover it. In this paper, we statistically analyze the variability of renewable energy, especially PV, due to the changes of solar radiation. And we derive additional capacity of gas turbine (GT) to counteract these variability of renewable energy in 2034. We also look into the current limits of environmental regulation and electricity market system about GT simple start-up in South Korea. At the end, we suggest how the environmental regulation, long-term power plan, and market system for GT should be changed to harmonize renewable energy in the Korea power system.