1. Environmental Audit on the Policy of Renewable Energy from Waste
April 2014
Burmshik Kim
The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea

2. Contents Current status of renewable energy source in Korea
The policy of waste to energy
Audit results
(Findings and recommendations)

3. Current Status of Renewable Energy Source in Korea
1. Energy Consumption in Korea
11th biggest energy consumer in the world (385.1 billion kWh in 2008)
96.6 % of energy source is imported
NRE generation has increased from 0.18 %(2003) to 1.7 %(2009)
-NRE: New & Renewable Energy
(GWh)
Source: POSCO Power ( visited on
March

4. Current Status of Renewable Energy Source in Korea
2. Energy Price and Renewable Energy
The increase of oil price
Source ://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Price_of_oil_( ).png, visited on March
The data from (United States Department of Energy)

5. Current Status of Renewable Energy Source in Korea
3. Climate change and renewable energy
EU generates 6.5 % of total energy
by NRE (total : 1,782 MTOE)
From Waste : 10.6 %
From Biomass : 57.3%
EU has a plan to increase the
portion of NRE to 20 % by 2020
Source: Woods Hole Research Center (
Visit on March

6. The Policy of Waste to Energy
1. Waste management in Korea
Methodology
2003
(ton/day)
2007
2009
Total
Landfill
Incineration
Recycle
Ocean Dump
Source : Ministry of Environment 2010
Available energy source from the wastes
12,885 ton/day : combustible  RDF (Refused derived fuel)
20,491 ton/day : anaerobic digestion  Bio-gas

7. The Policy of Waste to Energy
2. The concept of waste to energy
Combustible solid waste
(paper, vinyl, plastic)
Organic waste
(food, livestock, sludge)
Incinerator
Landfill gas
Incineration / Landfill
Composting / Ocean dump
Heat(recovered partially)
Methane gas(partially used)
RDF (as a energy source)
Bio-gas
(Anaerobic digestion)
Heat and electricity
Electricity

8. The Policy of Waste to Energy
3. The plan for waste to energy
Korea (Ministry of Environment) disclosed “Measures for Waste Resource and Biomass Energy” (May 2008)
Source: the Ministry of Environment, Korea (
visited on March

9. The Policy of Waste to Energy
3. The plan for waste to energy
Detailed plan of the “Measures”
(Unit : Site, 100 million KRW)
Source: Ministry of Environment (May 2008)

10. Audit Results Background Objectives
1. Audit overview
Background
The policy was conducted without considering sufficient economic feasibility and technical stability of the plant construction.  It is concerned that the effectiveness of the policy would be decreased.
Objectives
The planning and performance of the policy was audited
Audit period : 17 days ( ~ )
 The aim of the audit was to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the policy, and to serve the successful commitment of the plan.

11. Audit Results The audit was focused on…. Methodology
2. Audit focus and methodology
The audit was focused on….
Reviewing the whole process including planning, execution, operation and management of the waste to energy plant to serve the appropriate commitment of the policy
Inspecting lawful procurement process, feasible design and construction, and proper operation and management of the waste to energy plants
Methodology
Documents review, interviewing, field inspection, and data analysis
participation of environmental experts during the audit

12. Finding 1. Proper technology must be decided based on
economic feasibility considering energy usage.
MOE promote RDF plant construction for treating solid waste.
In some case, incinerator had more feasibility.
The comparison of RDF and Incinerator of Wonju and Inchon shows that Wonju has more feasibility for RDF but Inchon has more feasibility for incinerator due to the energy usage.
(Unit : 100 million KRW)
Source:
Visited on March
Source : Ministry of Environment, 2011

13. Finding 2. Proper operation cost must be considered
when making up a budget.
When bidding, technology suppliers provided improper information including underestimated operation cost to get high evaluation score for the procurement.
Local government should spend budget to cover the shortage of
operation cost.
The cause of insufficient information on operation cost:
short commercialized experiences and lack of similar cases.
The result of the investigation on 14 drying and carbonization plants for treating sludge showed that the operation cost was at 97 % of higher compared to the initial proposal by the suppliers (ranged from 23 to 231 %)

14. Finding 3. Proper management regulations must be set up
“Clean Air Conservation Act” of Korea did not have the emission limit of air pollutant for the RDF plants.
Finding 4. Improper executions were found
Improper executions by the public officers due to the insufficient knowledge on the technology and plant construction were still big problems for successful plant installation and operation.

15. Recommendations
MOE should reconsider the plant construction plan based on the economic feasibility and technological stability.
MOE should make a proper regulation to prohibit the suppliers from submitting underestimated operation cost proposal when they participate in a tender, and should subsidize the local government to cope with excessive operation cost.
MOE should make a rule for pollution prevention from the waste to energy plants.
Improper execution on the procurement, construction and supervision must be rectified.

16. Thank you..
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