At Haneul Park in Seoul’s Mapo District, there is a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, also known as a resource circulation facility. Before the World Cup Stadium was built, Haneul Park and the adjacent Noeul Park were used as the city’s only landfill, which eventually rose like a mountain. The area was later transformed into public parks, and a CHP plant was established there. The facility collects methane gas generated from the former landfill sites of Haneul Park and Noeul Park and uses it to produce energy.
SEOUL, Nov. 16 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea recovered enough energy from waste incineration this year to power the annual needs of roughly 110,000 people, according to new government data released Sunday.
The National Institute of Environmental Research said it will publish a revised technical guide on Monday detailing updated methods for measuring the efficiency of energy recovery at the country’s incineration facilities. The changes are intended to improve reliability and on-site applicability in calculating how much heat from burning waste can be reused as steam, hot water or electricity.
Under current rules, incinerators that meet a designated energy-recovery threshold receive reductions in “waste disposal contribution fees,” giving municipalities and operators financial incentives to improve efficiency.
According to the institute, 51 incineration plants nationwide recovered about 6.35 million gigacalories of energy this year. Based on Korea’s per-capita annual energy consumption of 5.62 tons of oil equivalent, officials said the recovered energy is enough to cover one year of usage for approximately 110,000 residents.
The revised guide also includes more detailed procedures for calculating heat values at pyrolysis and high-temperature melting facilities, as well as updated standards for managing measurement equipment.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
