The Korean government will gradually shut down 10 aged coal-fired power plants as part of measures to curb fine dust emissions, officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that the 10, to be closed by 2025, are aged over 30 years and have a combined capacity of 3.3 million kilowatts. It will also no longer build coal power plants to support the country’s aim of cutting the fine dust level by 24 percent to 6,600 tons by 2030.

As of this month, a total of 53 coal power plants are running across the country, accounting for 28 percent of the country’s total power production. The coal power plants have been pointed to as the key culprit of the country’s worsening air pollution, threatening the public health.

“It is now time to change to a low-carbon and environment-friendly electricity system amid growing public concerns over the fine dust. (The ministry) will fully consider impacts that the closures may have on neighboring areas’ power supply when shutting down the aged plants,” Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan said in a meeting.

Of other remaining plants, the ministry will replace turbines of eight plants to boost power efficiency. For the turbine replacement and other improvement work, about 100 billion won ($86 million) to 250 billion won will be injected per coal power plant, they said.

For the remaining 35 coal power plants aged under 20 years, the ministry will expand the capacity of circulation pumps by 2019 to reduce the pollutant emissions.

The ministry also will tighten emissions conditions for 11 plants that have nearly finished construction while installing the strictest emissions reduction systems for nine plants that just started construction.

The government will inject a total of 10 trillion won to the overall project to curb coal power plants by 2030. The ministry projected the project will lower the shares of coal power plants by 1.8 percentage point to 26.2 percent in 2029 compared to last year.

By Lee Hyun-jeong  (rene@heraldcorp.com)