South Korea does not expect any major shortage of electricity following its recent order for a temporary shutdown of coal-fired power plants to fight air pollution, the country's power exchange said Sunday.

On May 15, President Moon Jae-in ordered eight coal-fired plants, aged 30 years or older, to stop operations for the whole month of June to help reduce fine dust. 

Coal burning is a key source of the emission of fine dust, which coupled with yellow dust largely originating from China, is increasingly becoming a health hazard here.

As the country's idling power plants reached a combined 41 gigawatt in capacity in April, they can be put into operation at any time in case of a power shortage, data by the Korea Power Exchange showed.

Late last month, the country had 110 gigawatts in power generation capacity. This means the plants in operation generated 69 gigawatt of electricity. (Yonhap)