Solar panels at the Samcheonpo power plant in southeast South Korea. (image: Korea South-East Power Co.)
SEOUL, June 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Concerns are rising over the risk of the value chain for major sources of renewable energy like solar and wind power being dominated by China, a report showed Thursday.
The report from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the lobby for South Korea’s family-controlled conglomerates, gave a global forecast on the generation and supply of nuclear, wind and hydrogen power, which are expected to replace fossil fuels.
There was a heavy monopolization of the value chain for solar power generation by Chinese companies, which hold a 95-percent share of the global market for ingots and wafers, essential parts in building a solar power generation system.
Last year, the list of manufacturers for wind power turbines showed that six of the world’s top 10 manufacturers were Chinese.
“China’s renewable energy industry has grown rapidly based on strong government support,” the FKI said.
Chinese presence was strong in the nuclear power industry as well.
In a global list of nuclear power generation, China went from 4th place in 2015 (6.6 percent) to 2nd place in 2020 (13.5 percent). In contrast, South Korea dropped from 6.4 percent to 6 percent.
The domestic and foreign sales of nuclear power suppliers in South Korea were lower in 2020 than in 2015. Foreign sales of nuclear reactor makers and public institutions dropped from 2.15 trillion won (US$1.66 billion) in 2015 to 502.5 billion won in 2020.
Nuclear power generation should be expanded to lower the dependency on fossil fuels, the federation said.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
