The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced on the 10th that all workers who worked at Taean Coal-fired Power Plant No. 1 in Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, which will be abolished in December this year, will be relocated to other power plants. This is the first time that a plan to relocate workers from coal power plants has been disclosed under the Lee Jae-myung administration.
According to the Ministry of Climate, 65 of the 129 people working at the Taean Coal Power Plant will be relocated to Gumi Natural Gas Power Plant in Gumi City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and 64 people from partner companies (Hanjeon KPS, Geumhwa PSC, Hanjeon Industrial Development, etc.) will be relocated to other coal generators in Taean.
While inspecting the Taean coal power plant, Climate Minister Kim Sung-hwan explained, "It is the first step to inform the people of the government's strong will to protect jobs through a just transition."
Coal power plants across the country will be closed one after another in accordance with the government's decarbonization plan.
In the case of Taean coal-fired power plants, they will be closed gradually from unit 1 in December to unit 8 in 2037, in accordance with the 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply (Pre-Basic) confirmed in February this year.
Taean Coal-fired Power Plant has the largest facility capacity among domestic coal power plants, with its power generation capacity reaching up to 6,100MW as units 1 and 2 were completed in 1996 and 10 were built in 2017.
According to the 11th electricity standard, 37 out of 61 coal-fired generators nationwide are scheduled to be abolished by 2038, but the pace is expected to accelerate as President Lee Jae-myung pledged to "decarbonize in 2040."