Access to solar panels has created capacity where the state falls short, but the overall energy security challenges facing the nation are daunting. This report, “North Korea's Energy Sector,” is a compilation of articles published on 38 North in 2023 that surveyed North Korea's energy production facilities and infrastructure.
“We would turn the light on when we ate and then we turned it off right away.” North Korea's ramshackle electricity grid draws on ageing hydro and coal-fired thermal power stations, many of them built during the cold war with Chinese and Soviet assistance. UN sanctions restrict the regime's imports of refined oil and petroleum products.
North Korea suffers from chronic energy shortages. Rolling blackouts are common, even in the nation's capital, while some of the poorest citizens receive state-provided electricity only once a year.
While North Korea's thermal power stations continue to play an important role in the state's energy mix, the stations were built decades ago in collaboration with engineers from the former Soviet Union and China. The outdated technology makes them inefficient, and thermal capacity has not risen significantly in decades.
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