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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_North_Korea

Power & Energy

Energy sector is one of the most serious bottlenecks in the North Korean economy. Since 1990 the supply of oil, coal, and electricity declined steadily, and seriously affected all sectors of the economy. Oil imports peaked at about 23 million barrels in 1988. Crude oil used to be imported by pipeline at “friendship prices” from the former USSR or China. The withdrawal of Russian concessions and the reduction of imports from China brought down annual imports to less than 4 million barrels by 1997. As the imported oil was refined for fuels for transportation and agricultural machinery, a serious cutback in oil imports caused criticalproblems in transportation and agriculture.

North Korea has no cooking coal either. But it has substantial reserves of anthracite in Anju, Aoji, and other areas. Coal production peaked at 43 million tons in 1989 and steadily declined thereafter to 18.6 million tons in 1998. Major causes of coal shortages include mine flooding, shortage of electricity supply, and outdated mining technology. As coal was used mainly for industry and electricity generation, decrease in coal production caused serious problems in industrial production and electricity generation. Coal production may not necessarily increase significantly until North Korea imports modern mining technology.

Electricity generation of North Korea peaked in 1989 at about 30 billion KWh. There were seven large hydroelectric plants in the 1980s. Four were along the Yalu River, built with Chinese aid, and supplying power to both countries. In 1989 60 percent of electricity generation was hydro and 40 percent thermal, mostly coal-fired.

In 1997, coal accounted for more than 80% of primary energy consumption and hydropower more than 10%. Net imports of coal represented only about 3% percent of coal consumption. Hydroelectric power plants generated about 65% of North Korea's electricity and coal-fired thermal plants about 35% in 1997. However, with only 20% of the per capita electricity generation of Japan, the DPRK suffers from chronic supply shortages.

Some hydroelectric facilities are believed to be out of operation due to damages frommajor flooding in 1995. Coal-fired power plants have been running well under capacity in recent years, due in part to a serious decline in coal supply and in part to problems with transportation of coal. The electricity supply steadily declined and was 17 billion KWh in 1998. Since electricity generated should double up just to return to the 1989 level, power shortage will continue until coal production increases substantially and generating equipment is refurbished. Transmission losses are reported to be around 30 percent. <div

Originally posted on LiveJournal