As of 2025, the Honam region accounts for 38.3% of the nationwide RPS solar power generation, yet transmission infrastructure to connect this power to the Seoul metropolitan area remains chronically insufficient.
Two Milestones, One Structural Challenge
In the spring of 2026, two milestones surrounding South Korea's energy landscape have become clear. One represents past achievement.
The proportion of domestic renewable energy generation in 2024 reached 10.6% (63.2 TWh), surpassing 10% for the first time in history. The other is the current target.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, launched on October 1, 2025, has declared that it will increase renewable energy from the current cumulative level of about 34 GW to around 100 GW by 2030.
What these two figures show is not simple growth, but a "matter of speed."
From 34 GW to 100 GW, facility expansion close to threefold must be achieved in about four years. Can the current regional facility status and power grid structure truly support this?
In this KBR Analysis, we aim to answer this question by analyzing the most up-to-date official data available at this point across multiple layers.
1. Overall Power Market Structure in 2024: Current Status Through Confirmed Statistics
Total Generation and Ranking Changes by Energy Source
Total domestic power generation in 2024 stood at 595.6 TWh, a 1.3% increase from the previous year. Looking solely at the figures, it is a modest increase, but a historical tectonic shift occurred within the internal composition of energy sources.
In terms of generation share for 2024, nuclear power (31.7%, 188.8 TWh) became the largest power source for the first time in 18 years, while gas (28.1%, 167.2 TWh) and coal (28.1%, 167.2 TWh) tied for second place. Coal, which had maintained the top spot for 17 years, dropped to third place for the first time.
In terms of the growth rate of power generation by energy source, renewable energy (+11.7%) recorded the highest, followed by gas (+6.0%) and nuclear power (+4.6%). Conversely, coal power generation decreased by 9.6%. No other energy source matched the double-digit growth rate of renewables.
Power Generation Facility Capacity: Renewables Already Outpacing Nuclear
Distinguished from power generation (actual production), rankings based on facility capacity (theoretical maximum production capability) appear entirely different.
Total power generation facility capacity (153.1 GW) was led by gas (46.3 GW, 30.3%), followed by coal (40.2 GW, 26.3%), renewables (34.7 GW, 22.7%), and nuclear power (26.1 GW, 17.0%).
On a facility basis, renewable energy (34.7 GW) is already 33% larger than nuclear power (26.1 GW).
However, in terms of actual generation share, renewables (10.6%) remained at about one-third of nuclear power (31.7%). The core cause of this gap is "intermittency."
Solar power generates electricity only when the sun shines, and wind power only when the wind blows. No matter how many facilities are built, without a system capable of stably connecting and storing them in the power grid, the practical generation share cannot rise to match the facility capacity.
Internal Structure of Renewables: The Pros and Cons of Solar Concentration
The internal share of renewable power generation was led by solar (51.8%), followed by biomass (19.8%), fuel cells (11.8%), hydro (6.8%), wind (5.3%), and IGCC (3.3%).
Solar power alone accounts for more than half of all renewables.
While this is an achievement of expanded deployment, it also means that intermittency risks—where generation is impossible at night or on cloudy days—are concentrated across the entire renewable system. The fact that wind power stands at only 5.3% is a clear weakness compared to advanced renewable energy nations.
2. Regional Solar Power Generation: Spatial Structure Seen Through Latest 2025 Figures
This is the data demanding particular attention in this article.
The regional RPS solar power plant generation status for 2025 (January to December 2025) released by the Korea Energy Agency's Renewable Energy Cloud Platform as of March 2026 represents the most up-to-date regional performance data currently available.
It must be read with the premise that the figures are based on RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) operators participating in the power market and do not include small-scale private facilities.