KOREA
Heat wave issues a ‘red alert’ in electricity supply 　

Posted July. 19, 2021 07:28,

A heat dome that sends the temperature above 35 degrees Celsius during the daytime is projected to stay until the end of this month, which is posing a crisis in electricity supply and demand. The electric power reserve rate is expected to fall to the four percent range on the last week of July. Some are concerned that the electricity crisis in 2011 could occur again if the heat wave persists. 　

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Power Exchange on Sunday, the electric power reserve rate fell below 10GW, which is the stable level from Monday to Friday. The rate subtracts the amount of electricity currently being used from the total supply capacity. It fell below 10GW at the end of August last year, but it is analyzed that electricity usage sharply increased this year due to higher factory operation rates and increased use of air conditioning because of the heat wave that arrived early.

It is projected that electricity demand for air conditioning would increase as the heat wave is predicted to become more intense from this week and tropical nights would last. The Korea Meteorological Administration projected that a heat dome would cover the lower and upper part of the atmosphere of the Korean Peninsula after Monday. There is a chance that the daytime temperature high would be around 40 degrees Celsius. 　

Increased electricity demand caused by the prolonged heat wave is likely to further decrease the power reserve rate. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced its electricity supply and demand projection at the end of last month and predicted the power reserve rate to hover around 4.2 to 8.8 percent and hit a low of 4.0GW on the fourth week of July. 　

An electricity supply and demand emergency alert is used when the reserve rate falls below 5.5GW. It would be the first alert in eight years since 2013 if it is issued this year. A state of alert was declared when the power reserve rate fell to 3.2 percent in mid-August 2013.

Looming climate risks on Korean peninsula

Posted July. 17, 2021

The planet is sickening due to climate change. Record-breaking heat waves are roaring across the west coast of North America. More than 800,000 residents have been left displaced in China’s Sichuan since heavy rain started pouring last Friday. Is there any likelihood of such extreme weather events occurring on the Korean peninsula this summer?

Woo Jin-kyu, a weather forecaster of the Korea Meteorological Administration in charge of sharing weather analysis and forecasts in a regular briefing of the agency, warned that torrential downpours and heat waves have only intensified over recent years on the Korean peninsula, showing signs of the advent of unprecedented weather events. “South Korea is not a safe zone for climate abnormalities,” he said.

The monsoon season in South Korea shows a great example of red signals of climate change. Last year had the longest monsoon season ever. By contrast, this year’s started in July - the latest start in 39 years. It is a rare phenomenon that most parts of the country entered into the influence of the monsoon concurrently as a stationary front (monsoonal front) is naturally built in the south to move northward.

This year’s weather trends around the Korean peninsula are related to the ongoing worldwide event of climate change. With the peninsula blanketed with cold air for a while, it rained frequently last month, hindering a monsoonal front from moving northward. The heat wave across the west coast of North America is the main cause, explained Mr. Woo from the KMA. “Westerlies prevail in the mid-latitude zone where the peninsula is located. Air currents are supposed to flow from west to east. As a hot high pressure system stays at bay over the Pacific Ocean, cold air above the peninsula lingers,” he said. This year’s monsoonal front poured rain over China and Japan starting from May and went up to the Korean peninsula in July.

With the heat wave coming into effect, all eyes are on whether this summer will turn out to be a hotter season that the 2018 heat wave recorded as the worst year ever. Heavy rains are another threat to the peninsula this summer. Starting from July 3, it rained up to 70mm an hour, adding up to more than 300mm a day. On Thursday, localized torrential rains affected many parts of the nation in the heat wave.


kej09@donga.com