Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) is entering the U.S. photovoltaic power market with the goal of realizing a vision of building a global energy belt connecting North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
KEPCO signed a deal to buy a 20MW photovoltaic power plant from Cogentrix Solar Holdings, a subsidiary of Carlyle Group, in New York on Aug. 26.
KEPCO and the COPA Fund, raised by the National Pension Service of Korea and other pension funds, took a 100 percent stake in the photovoltaic power plant, located in Alamosa Country, Colorado. They will be in charge of the operation of the photovoltaic power plant from around October, and its repair and maintenance will be left to KEPCO’s subsidiaries.
The Alamosa Country photovoltaic power plant with the high concentration photovoltaic power is capable of generating power at a maximum efficiency rate of about 31 percent, showing an improvement over the conventional general silicon module. The generated power will be sold to the Public Service Company of Colorado under a Power Purchase Agreement. Revenues from the project are forecast to earn about $230 million (about 262.9 billion won).
The expansion of panels and energy storage systems produced by Korea with the precincts of the plant will have an additional effect of exporting facilities worth about 15 billion won.
KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik and Carlyle Group Chairman Daniel A D’Aniello participated in the signing session and also signed an MOU to forge further cooperation between the two companies.
KEPCO’s latest deal will not only allow the Korean power company to secure a foothold in the United States prior to its full-scale market entry, but also KEPCO’s signing of an MOU with Carlyle Group will engage further joint projects in such areas as independent power production, renewable, and new energy industries, including ESS, smart grid and micro grid in North America.
“KEPCO’s entry into the United States, the world’s largest power market, the first since 1995 when the company entered in the Filipino power market, is significant,” a KEPCO official said. “KEPCO’s securing of a foothold for its full-scale entry into North America is expected to further accelerate its scheme to build a global energy belt.
In a related development, KEPCO said on Aug. 29 that the company landed a nearly 45 billion won order from Dominica to build a smart distribution network in the Caribbean island nation.
KEPCO President Cho held a meeting with Dominican President Danilo Medina on Aug. 29 in which the former suggested the development of new and renewable energies and the construction of EV charging stations, and they discussed ways of implementing a pilot project and nurturing manpower.
On the same day, KEPCO signed a $39 million (45 billion won) deal to build a power distribution network with the Dominican state power company, CDEEE.
The deal calls for the installation of 7,102 electric poles, building electric lines stretching 2,220 km in length, and installing or replacing 1,496 transformers and distribution networks. In 2011, KEPCO successfully completed a $51 million power distribution network project. Dominica maintains an annual average growth rate of 7 percent, but the country is grappling with high power losses and insufficient power generation.
KEPCO is shifting into high gear to implement overseas projects. In May, KEPCO launched a pilot project to install a smart grid station in the United Arab Emirates. The smart grid station refers to the optimization of building energy consumption by combining data from air-conditioners, heating, photovoltaic power, ESS, AMI and smart gadgets as well as ICT. Earlier, KEPCO signed an MOU on energy efficiency with Saudi Aramco.
The power company is carrying out pilot smart grid collaboration projects in Maryland and Virginia, in the United Sates.
KEPCO has a vision of building a global energy belt connecting North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
KEPCO signed an MOU on the development of new and renewable energy in Mongolia with Newcom and Softbank. KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik, who accompanied President Park Geun-hye on a state visit to Mongolia in July, agreed to implement projects on a step-by-step basis, starting with photovoltaic power, an area in which Korea is exporting related equipment. Cho said chances are good that Korea will tap such new energy industries as the frequency regulation ESS sector.
KEPCO President Cho also signed an MOU on joint research for Mongolia’s power systems with its state-run power transmission company, NPTG.
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