South Korea's Renewable Capacity Overtakes Coal for the First Time

South Korea's installed renewable capacity surpassed coal for the first time on October 21, 2026, reaching 41,040 MW against 40,757 MW for coal, according to Korea Power Exchange (KPX) data reported by Yonhap. The gap is 283 MW, and renewables now account for 25.4% of the country's total installed capacity.

This is a comparison of installed capacity, not of electricity generation: because solar and wind operate with fewer equivalent hours, the electricity produced by renewables remains below that of coal. With renewables as the second source by capacity, only liquefied natural gas (LNG), at 46,788 MW, exceeds them, according to pv magazine. The gap with LNG narrowed to about 5,748 MW.

KPX reports that between the end of 2020 and the end of 2025, renewables added an average of about 3,504 MW per year, roughly 4.3 times the annual increase in LNG, of about 807 MW. South Korea's first Basic Plan for Renewable Energy, published this year, envisions about 56.2 GW of new solar capacity within the target of 100 GW of renewables by 2030. The grid plan raises transmission-level connection capacity from 119 GW to 171 GW by 2030 and distribution-level capacity from 84 GW to 110 GW; it also allows connection above normal limits, with output curtailment when the grid is saturated, and ties connection rights to a competitive auction starting in January 2027.

On September 22, KPX opened a tender for 1,100 MW/6,600 MWh of six-hour battery storage on the mainland, plus 80 MW on Jeju Island, with 15-year contracts. Winners will be announced in November, and entry into operation is scheduled for February 2029. South Korean solar additions exceeded 3.1 GW in 2024 and were repeated in 2025, while Korea's export bank estimates 3.5 GW in 2026.

The case is relevant to the US-Gulf ↔ LatAm region as a reference for a manufacturing economy that is reconfiguring its energy mix through batteries, auctions and grid expansion, the same three pieces that determine the pace of renewable deployment in Mexico, Brazil and Chile. The November storage auction and the progress of the KPX grid plan will be worth following.

This note was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.