South Korea’s electricity surplus reached a monthly record high in March as business and industrial activity was disrupted by coronavirus spread.

According to the Korea Power Exchange on Tuesday, the electricity supply reserve rate reached 23.9 percent at 11:00 a.m. on March 10 when the peak power demand hit the highest at 73,329 megawatt (MW), the highest record for March.

Facility reserve rate relative to the entire power generation capacity of 125,881 MW also climbed to the highest level of 71.7 percent since the data compiling began.

The warmer-than-average temperature and sharp cut in industrial electricity usage amid the coronavirus outbreak bolstered the reserve, experts suggested.

According to the data from state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), electricity sales in January declined 4.8 percent from a year ago to 46.33 million MWh. Sales of industrial power fell 5.9 percent to 24.16 million MWh, the steepest fall since January 2009 when the country had reeled from the global financial crisis.

Power usage of companies would have dropped at a faster rate in February and March because some factories had to temporarily shut down operation amid surge in the number of infections both at home and aborad.

Some concerned that the low electricity usage could deal a blow to the energy industry, especially liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants because power demand could sufficiently be met with low-cost power generation from nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

By Pulse

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