Answer to energy needs is blowing in the wind: think tank

The Korean government should pay more attention to fostering wind power, a local think tank said yesterday, because compared to other countries with high-levels of energy use, it lags far behind in wind power plant technology.
The Samsung Economic Research Institute said in a report that major markets for wind energy ― Europe, the United States and Asia ― saw demand soar 64.3 percent to a total of $14 billion last year from a year earlier. The wind energy market will grow at an annual average of 14 percent to total $39 billion by 2010, the institute predicted. Last year, wind power generated worldwide totaled 74.2 gigawatts, and its annual production capacity will explode to 150 gigawatts in 2010, the institute said.
“In order for a country to foster its wind energy industry, comprehensive government support is needed for the production and installation of wind power plants, as well as construction of a wind farm and making the process commercially viable,” said the report. “The core competitiveness of the wind power industry stems from the power source, but the technology level between Korea and leading countries is huge.”
Other developed countries are focusing on devising a wind power generator of 5 megawatts while Korean technology is still limited to the 750-kilowatt level.
Korea has been less proactive toward wind energy on the grounds that its per-watt generating cost was higher than other energy sources, such as nuclear and thermal power. But wind-power generating costs have been declining as technologies evolved over recent years, the institute said.
Korea is also under mounting international pressure to cut emission levels, as it ranks ninth in volume of harmful emissions. Four hundred megawatts of wind power is the energy equivalent of 120 to 200 tons of coal.
“It is high time that Korea jumped on the wind power bandwagon given that wind power is raising its share in existing markets, and new markets are emerging,” the report said.
The research center said Asia and the United States are experiencing a conspicuous rise of wind energy use.

By Seo Ji-eun Staff Writer [spring@joongang.co.kr]