On April 27, 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crossed the military demarcation line at Panmunjom and had a historic meeting with South Korean President Wen Zai. It is reported that North Korea has long been suffering from power shortages. The satellite imagery has been exposed for a long time. At night, most of North Korea’s land is in dark, except for the North Korean capital Pyongyang, which is brightly lit at night.
The picture shows the street scene in Pyongyang, North Korea. The top of the street light pole is lit by solar energy. Many street lights in North Korea are solar energy.
So, is North Korea lacking electricity? It is reported that Xinhua News Agency international reporter Du Baiyu's analysis: the shortage of electricity is a fact, some families have installed solar panels on their balconies, and they use electricity for the night during the day, so there is electricity at night.
Limited power supply is also a fact. According to Du reporters, Pyongyang’s residential buildings usually guarantee power supply during dinner hours, but after 90 points, they cannot be guaranteed.
According to Reuters, sales of photovoltaic panels, which are cheap and easy to install, have surged in North Korea, indicating that North Korea’s electricity demand is rising.
According to reports, in North Korea, photovoltaic panels and voltage regulators were used exclusively by labor party cadres, and are now available for sale in the market and in the hardware and electrical counters of Pyongyang department stores. The price of 20 watt photovoltaic panels is less than 350,000 North Korea. yuan. According to the exchange rate of the black market of 1 US dollar to about 8,000 won, the price of the above-mentioned panels is equivalent to 44 US dollars. The official exchange rate of North Korea is 1 US dollar to 96 Korean won.
It is difficult to obtain accurate and accurate data from North Korea, but from the recent picture of the North Korean city obtained by Reuters, about 10-15% of the urban apartment buildings seem to have small photovoltaic panels on the windows or balconies.
According to the report, in North Korea, electricity is given priority to factories and areas with important political status. According to Tristan Webb, a former British foreign ministry analyst who visited the North Korean power plant in 2013, North Korea’s annual power generation is about 33 terawatt hours (TW), which is only about 7% of South Korea’s power generation.
Pyongyang has a photovoltaic panel factory, and the official announcement that the technology has been "effectively used" in photovoltaic streetlights in other cities. North Korean official media said on April 21 that North Korea is working hard to use renewable energy to "compensate for power shortages." “Compared with last year, (installed) photovoltaic panels have at least tripled.” Simon Cockerell, general manager of Beijing KoryoTours Travel Agency, told Reuters from Pyongyang. He often goes to North Korea. “Some (photovoltaic panels) are locally produced, so the price may have dropped.”
According to reports, in Dandong, China, which borders on North Korea, some stores have large billboards of photovoltaic panels and batteries, attracting North Korean vendors. “The Koreans started buying solar panels from us two years ago,” said Yang Yanmeng, a Shandong businessman who started selling photovoltaic panels in 2012. “Now, 80% to 90% of our products are sold to North Korea.” He told Reuters on the phone.
Related reading: Commercial Solar Powered Street Lights, High Power Solar Street Light
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