Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) President Cho Hwan-eik said KEPCO signed 10 MOUs with Iran while accompanying President Park Geun-hye made a state visit to Tehran.
KEPCO President Cho painted a rosy picture of the company as KEPCO, now fourth in the global utilities sector, will likely to rise to the No. 1 position soon. “KEPCO’s potential in such segments as new and renewable energy, energy storage system (ESS) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is enormous,” President Cho said.
Cho made the remarks on his vision for the company and strategies to survive the cut-throat competition in the global energy market in a recent interview.
Cho said he thinks that the MOUs KEPCO signed could be more feasible for execution than ones inked by other Korean companies. Out of the total, two MOUs on gas-fired power plants by a Korean consortia headed by KEPCO are considered to be virtually a done deal, he said.
Chances are high that a deal on advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will be materialized. AMI is a two-way system for enhancing the efficiency of power grids by recording consumption of electricity through smart meters at each home and analyzing data through the application of IoT technology. The scheme calls for installing AMIs at 12,000 households at a plant concentration area on the outskirts of Tehran and making Hormuz energy self-sufficient. The Iranian side is on board with the scheme, as they proposed the simultaneous preparation of a pilot program and full-fledged projects, a departure from the conventional way of conducting the latter following the former.
Explaining that Korea’s technology is generally considered to be most successful abroad, KEPCO boasts the world’s top-rate technology to lower power transmission looses, the company explained. KEPCO’s electricity loss rate stands at 3.5 percent. The figure surges to 17-18 percent in Iran and 25-26 percent in India. Other countries are required not only to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Post-2020 Climate Change Regime, but also to supply electricity. KEPCO’s AMI technology is most likely to find more foreign markets as reducing power losses at the lowest level will cost less than the construction of new power units.
Developing countries are cruising fast with cheaper prices in the global thermal power market, so for Korea, the coal-fired sector is a red ocean, but the energy efficiency segment, albeit not big in the portion of sales, is the blue ocean with unlimited potential, so KEPCO has to invest big in the segment of reducing energy losses, and next comes new and renewable energies and thermal power.
In particular, President Cho said KEPCO will focus on investments in reducing power losses in the course of transmission and distribution. Korea ranks seventh in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, so raising energy efficiency is a prerequisite to reducing C02 emissions.
In a long-term perspective, KEPCO aims at raising the percent of its overseas business in sales from 7 percent currently to 20 percent by 2025. President Cho said the target could be attained. As to the new and renewable energy sector, KEPCO is implementing a project to build a wind power plant in Jordan and a project to explore the photovoltaic power market in Saudi Arabia. The Korean power company said a contract to build a photovoltaic power plant in the United States will be signed upon the pending completion of a feasibility study.
President Cho said it is regrettable that it takes three months for KEPCO to complete a feasibility study even though the company is time pressed for winning bidding wars with foreign rivals. If negotiations on projects with foreign countries have been completed, a failure to meet domestic demand in Korea could have immense ramifications on the company’s international standing, President Park pointed out.
As to the development of the new energy industries, President Cho wished for the widespread supply of ESS. To this end, he said, KEPCO plans to set aside a total of 106.7 billion won in investments for the ESS segment. The first phase project to develop the frequency regulation ESS was a sensation. Other countries visit the power company to take their note, and KEPCO plans to invest a combined 206.7 billion won to complete the first phase ESS project by 2017.
Cho said the EV charging business KEPCO launched in Jeju Island has to be expanded. KEPCO’s ultimate goal of developing new energy industries is to export a “smart city.” Start homes, smart factories and start buildings come in an initial stage, and they are to be evolved omidirectionally, he said. KEPCO is stepping on the gas to develop and export smart city systems ahead of other countries to explore the nation’s growth engines of the future, he said.
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