South Korea will have an additional 83 renewable energy power plants by 2016, boosting the country's efforts to cut back on fossil fuel imports, the (South) Korea Rural Community Corp. said Thursday.

Under the new plan, 57 small hydroelectric power stations, 20 wind power, and six solar energy plants will be constructed in the following six years, as the combined annual output is expected to reach 2.22 million megawatt hours of electricity, or save 286.5 billion won (251.4 million U.S. dollars) worth of crude oil imports.

The rural development corporation added it plans to expand into the clean development mechanism (CDM) business by 2016 as well, which is forecast to bring down carbon dioxide emissions by 1.48 million tons.

Promoting eco-friendliness has been a key policy initiative for South Korea as the country last month voluntarily pledged to cut output of greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from the projected emission level in 2020 compared to 2005 by the end of January.