Energy in North Korea
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File:Pyongchon Thermal Power Station (Mangyong Hill).jpg
Energy in North Korea describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in North Korea.
North Korea is a net energy exporter. Primary energy use in North Korea was 224 TWh and 9 TWh per million people in 2009.[http://www.iea.org/textbase/nppdf/free/2011/key_world_energy_stats.pdf 2011 IEA Key energy statistics 2011] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027013037/http://www.iea.org/textbase/nppdf/free/2011/key_world_energy_stats.pdf |date=2011-10-27 }} Page: Country specific indicator numbers from page 48 The country's primary sources of power are hydro and coal after Kim Jong Il implemented plans that saw the construction of large hydroelectric power stations across the country.{{cite news |url=https://www.38north.org/2019/07/hydropower070319/ |title=North Korea's Hydroelectric Power - Part I |first1=Peter |last1=Makowsky |first2=Jenny |last2=Town |first3=Samantha |last3=Pitz |publisher=The Henry L. Stimson Center |work=38 North |date=3 July 2019 |access-date=2 September 2019}}
According to The World Bank, in 2021, 52.63% of North Korea’s population had access to electricity.{{Cite web |title=World Development Indicators {{!}} DataBank |url=https://databank.worldbank.org/reports.aspx?source=world-development-indicators# |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=databank.worldbank.org}} Many households are restricted to 2 hours' power per day due to priority being given to manufacturing plants.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-koreas-electricity-situation-worsens-compared-to-last-year/|title=North Korea's electricity situation worsens compared to last year|first=Seulkee|last=Jang|date=February 22, 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/energysource/north-korea-is-trying-to-find-a-way-to-keep-the-lights-on/|title=North Korea is trying to find a way to keep the lights on|date=September 19, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nknews.org/2021/04/north-korea-still-lacks-electricity-but-energy-aid-could-be-the-future-report/|title=North Korea still lacks electricity, but energy aid could be the future: Report | NK News|date=April 27, 2021|website=NK News}}
Overview
File:Korean Peninsula at night from space.jpg at night, showing that North Korea is in almost complete darkness due to a lack of electricity{{Cite news |title=Satellite data strongly suggests that China, Russia and other authoritarian countries are fudging their GDP reports |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=1 September 2019 |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fnews%2fwonk%2fwp%2f2018%2f05%2f15%2fsatellite-data-strongly-suggests-that-china-russia-and-other-authoritarian-countries-are-fudging-their-gdp-reports%2f%3f}}]]
Per capita electricity consumption
According to statistics compiled by the South Korean agency, Statistics Korea, based on International Energy Agency (IEA) data, per capita electricity consumption fell from its peak in 1990 of 1247 kilowatt hours to a low of 712 kilowatt hours in 2000. It has slowly risen since to 819 kilowatt hours in 2008, a level below that of 1970.{{cite news|title=Economic Collapse Reflected in Scarce Electricity |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=9629 |access-date=August 6, 2012 |newspaper=Daily NK |date=August 6, 2012 |author=Kim Tae Hong |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904031624/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=9629 |archive-date=September 4, 2012 }}{{cite news|title=N. Korea's power consumption per capita at 1970s levels |url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2012/08/06/0200000000AEN20120806003300315.HTML |access-date=August 6, 2012 |newspaper=Yonhap News Agency |date=August 6, 2012 |agency=Yonhap |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022150718/http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2012/08/06/0200000000AEN20120806003300315.HTML |archive-date=October 22, 2014 }}
In 2017 many homes were using small standalone photovoltaic systems.{{cite news|url=http://38north.org/2017/04/rfrank040617/ |title=Consumerism in North Korea: The Kwangbok Area Shopping Center |first=Ruediger |last=Frank |publisher=U.S.-Korea Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies |work=38 North |date=6 April 2017 |access-date=10 April 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411055001/http://38north.org/2017/04/rfrank040617/ |archive-date=11 April 2017 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nknews.org/2017/05/how-north-koreas-electricity-supply-became-one-of-the-worlds-worst/ |title=How North Korea 's electricity supply became one of the world's worst |last=Lankov |first=Andrei |publisher=NK News |date=31 May 2017 |access-date=21 October 2017 |quote=outside walls of houses are nearly all plastered with solar panels}} In 2019 it was estimated 55% of North Korean households used solar panels.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-solar-feature/cheap-solar-panels-power-consumer-appliance-boom-in-north-korea-idUSKCN1RT2P1 |title=Cheap solar panels power consumer appliance boom in North Korea |last=Shin |first=Hyonhee |publisher=Reuters |date=18 April 2019 |access-date=27 October 2019}}
By 2019, electricity production had reached a level where any supply blackouts were of relatively short durations.{{cite news |url=http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/878329.html |title=From darkness to light: North Koreans experience abundance of electricity for first time |author1=Park Min-hee |author2=Noh Ji-won |newspaper=The Hankyoreh |date=14 January 2019 |access-date=27 October 2019}}
Oil imports
North Korea imports crude oil from a pipeline that originates in Dandong, China. The crude oil is refined at the Ponghwa Chemical Factory in Sinuiju, North Korea.{{cite web|first=Chen |last=Aizhu |work=Reuters |title=How North Korea gets its oil from China: lifeline in question at U.N. meeting |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-oil/how-north-korea-gets-its-oil-from-china-lifeline-in-question-at-u-n-meeting-idUSKBN17U1I1 |date=2017-04-28 |access-date=2017-09-09}} North Korea has a smaller oil refinery, the Sŭngri Refinery, on its Russian border. The country had been able to import oil from China and the Soviet Union for below market prices, but with the end of the Cold War, these deals were not renewed, leading to an explosive rise in oil prices for Pyongyang and a drop in imports.{{Cite web|url=https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Can-North-Korea-Survive-An-Oil-Embargo.html|title=Can North Korea Survive An Oil Embargo?|date=12 September 2017|website=OilPrice}}
North Korea imports jet fuel, diesel fuel, and gasoline from two refineries in Dalian, China, which arrive at the North Korean port of Nampo.
Power facilities
North Korea is reliant on hydro power, which leads to shortages in winter, when there is little rainfall and ice blocks the flow of rivers.
Power plants that were never completed/ started up are shown in {{Color box|salmon|Salmon}}
{{Incomplete list|date=October 2021}}
{{reflist|group=Note}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal|last1=Ahn|first1=Se Hyun|title=North Korea's Energy Conundrum: Is Natural Gas the Remedy?|journal=Asian Survey|volume=53|issue=6|year=2013|pages=1037–1062|issn=0004-4687|doi=10.1525/as.2013.53.6.1037}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Energy in North Korea}}
{{Economy of North Korea}}
{{Asia topic|Energy in}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Korea}}