KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik rings the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) 

in New York on July 8 to mark the 20th anniversary of listing its American Depository Receipts (ADR) on the NYSE. (photo: KEPCO)

Korea Electric Power Corp. held an investment explanation session and the ringing of the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York on July 8 to mark the 20th anniversary of  the listing its American Repository Receipts (ADR) on the NYSE.

KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik said in a meeting with reporters KEPCO has been flooded with requests for the construction of thermal and new and renewable energy plants since it was award the right to build nuclear plants  in the United Arab Emirates.

President Cho said KEPCO aims at raising the portion of overseas revenues from the current 5 percent to 20 percent by 2020.

KEPCO suffered losses for five years before turning  profit able in 2013, and prospects for its 2014 business performance are bright.

KEPCO Unveils New Energy System and Paradigm for the Future

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) demonstrated at a recent forum a new energy system and a new energy paradigm that will unfold in the future.

Korea Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI), a subsidiary of KEPCO, presented a select shortlist of 30 future promising technology groups at the “Future Electricity Technology Forum,” which took place at COEX in southeastern Seoul on June 20. KEPRI is charged with developing technologies to offer quality electricity services to homes and companies across the nation. 

Among the picks for the 30 future technology groups are wireless transfer of power, chemical-looping combustion technology, renewable gasification storage technology (R2G),fourth-gneration (power-heating-cooling-water) technology, and graphene power line. The future technology groups will be finalized within July after reviewing opinions of experts in each field. 

A KEPCO official said the finalized future technology groups will be nurtured into future bread winners. KEPCO plans to work on the direction of research and investment strategies to implement the plan in cooperation with other companies, research institutes, and universities.

KEPCO is attaching top priority to developing smart grid and other future technologies to cope with a rapidly changing business environment and technology development trends. In 2013, KEPCO inaugurated the Future Technology Research Institute under the umbrella of KEPRI, which is exclusively responsible for creating new producers in accordance with the convergence and multidisciplinary paradigm for a creative economy.

Among future technologies that have been partly put into practice in the field is the smart grid, designed to offer quality power services by making the most of ICT technologies and maximizing energy efficiency. 

KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik said in a speech at a ceremony to dedicate a smart grid station this past February, “The smart grid field will emerge as the ‘Sixth New Wave’ in a full-blown manner and a new force behind the real growth of households and state.”

A smart grid pilot program is gaining ground. By operating a smart grid test-bed on Jeju Island, the world’s largest one of its kind, between December 2008 and the end of May 2014, Korea has verified technologies in five areas –  intelligent power grid, consumer, transport, new & renewable sources, power services, and commercialized business models. 

KEPCO is developing key infrastructure for the spread of the smart grid. A representative case of technology in hand is the energy storage system (ESS). ESS is a kind of battery in which power and renewable energy are stored and transferred whenever the  necessary. Each building and plant stockpiles power during non-peak load times and use up it in peak load times. 

As part of its efforts to spread the smart grid, KEPCO has begun to install them on the rooftop of its headquarters and branches photovoltaic power plants, ESSs, building automated systems (BAS), and building energy management systems (BEMS). 

A pilot project at the Guri-Namyangju branch office of KEPCO’s Gyeonggi North Headquarters involves the installation of a 20kW-class photovoltaic power facility on the rooftop and a 50kW-class ESS. The project is designed to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent and cut down on peak-load power consumption by 6 percent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 tons, KEPCO said.