South Korea's 2020 pellet imports remain unchanged

摘要

South Korea imported 319,000t of wood pellets in December up by 14pc on the year and 19pc on the month but overall receipts were fat on the year at 3mn t in 2020, despite an increase in dedicated biomass power plant capacity. Domestic independent power producer (IPP) GS EPS started commercial operations at its 105MW biomass-fred power plant Dangjin No.2 at Chungcheongnam-do in the southwest of the country in December. The plant consumes around 300,000 t/yr of wood pellets and 200,000 t/yr of domestic wood chips. South Korean state-controlled utility Korea South East Power (Koen) also started commissioning its 200MW Yeongdong No.2 unit in the northeast port city of Gangneung in August. The unit is expected to consume around 900,000 t/yr of wood pellets when operating at full capacity.