S. Korea spending $42 billion on power plants

Total power consumption is forecast to grow 1.9 percent each year on average until 2024, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement.

The world's fifth-largest importer of oil and one of the world's fastest-growing carbon polluters says its dependency on fossil fuels will slow gradually while investment in cleaner energy will rise quickly.

South Korea is expected to generate a third of its electricity from nuclear energy in 2024, compared to 25 percent this year, according to the statement.

"A large gain in the portion of nuclear energy as of power output in 2024 is expected to contribute to a low-carbon, high-efficiency consumption structure," the statement said.