Today and the Future of Geothermal Energy in Korea

Abstract

Geothermal utilization in Korea showed remarkable increase in the recent 10 years, especially in geothermal heat pump (GHP), which is mainly due to strong governmental supports including various subsidy programs, R&D expenditures, mandatory public new- and renewable- energy use act, flat electricity charge rates, etc. As for deep geothermal resources, although Korea does not have high-enthalpy geothermal resources from volcanic sources, it still has huge amount of geothermal resources at depth; i.e. technical geothermal potential of 19.6 GWe within 6.5 km deep by enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technologies. The first proof of concept project for geothermal power generation by EGS in Pohang has been started in Dec. 2010. Geothermal power generation is going to be realized in five years by EGS technology. National technological roadmap (TRM) aims to achieve 200 MWe install capacity by 2030. R&D programs according to the national geothermal TRM will support the technical background for nationwide deployment of GHP and EGS systems. It is expected that the rapid increase in GHP installation will go on at least next five years as long as the governmental subsidy programs continue.