South Korea’s cumulative solar power capacity surged with the newly installed 13,980 MW solar power capacity that started when President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017.
Consequently, solar power more than quadrupled from 4,502 megawatts (MW) in 2016 to 18,158 MW in September.
South Korea's solar power installation was at 4,489 MW from 2007 to 2016.
Along with the solar power capacity increase, the tonnage of waste panels rose to 279.4 last year from 245.6 in 2019 and 17.6 in 2018.
The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade expects the weight of waste panels generated nationwide to increase to 1,868 tons in 2030 and 85,220 tons in 2040.
Meanwhile, the Korea Environment Institute forecast the country's amount of waste panels to jump to 20,935 tons in 2030 and 112,564 tons in 2040.


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