Under the stewardship of President Cho Hwan-eik, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) is strengthening its presence in the global power market. KEPCO is devoting itself to realizing the goal of building a global energy belt connecting North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
To that end, KEPCO has been granted a massive contract to operate the Bakarah Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) it is now building in the United Arab Emirates for the next 60 years. Under the deal of jointly operating the nuclear power plant with the UAE side, KEPCO is expected to reap a combined $49.4 billion in sales. KEPCO signed a deal with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. (ENEC) to operate the BNPP, the Korean utility company said on Oct. 20.
KEPCO’s wining of the contract to operate the plant, which has a combined capacity of 5,600MW, means the company has been recognized for its capabilities to operate nuclear power plants, industry analysts said. The Korean energy industry points to the fact that KEPCO has secured stable revenues for 60 years.
KEPCO President Cho said, “(The deal) will raise KEPCO’s corporate value, giving more opportunities to enter other global nuclear power markets.”
The BNPP, located 270 km west of the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, is under construction. The nuclear power project KEPCO won in December 2009 is Korea’s first export case of nuclear power technology. Currently, the average progress of units 1 to 4 stands at 68 percent. Unit 1 will be online next May. The BNPP construction project will be completed after Unit 4 is in operation by 2020.
KEPCO is leading the consortium on the project as the main contractor in charge of overall management.
Korean companies, including KHNP and KEPCO KPS, are also involved in such jobs as design, equipment production, construction and operation support. With KEPCO’s winning of operation contract, the company will be able to obtain sizable revenues over a long period of time.
KEPCO will likely be given an 18 percent share in the BNPP’s sales, including revenues from the sale of electricity, sources said. The value of those sales over 60 years is estimated at some $49 billion.
The figure is 2.7 times more than $18.6 billion the KEPCO consortium will receive for the construction of the facility. KEPCO has invested $900 million to pick up a stake in the nuclear power project.
“Reaping of $40 billion from the operation of the power plant will be equivalent to exporting 2.28 million cars or 52 million smartphones,” a KEPCO official said. The KEPCO consortium will likely get additional benefits from the hiring of staff in operation, maintenance and other sectors, said the official, adding that up to 1,000 overseas new jobs will be created.
“With Korea’s excellent manpower’s involvement in not only construction and but also operation, both countries have established a solid, long-term partnership. KEPCO will do its best to make the UAE nuclear power plant the world’s best project by operating it for 60 years in a safe and trusted fashion,” said KEPCO President Cho. Participating in a ceremony to sign the contact were KEPCO President Cho and ENEC CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi; Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan; and Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of the Government of Abu Dhabi, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak.
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A bird-eye view of a coal-fired power plant whose independent power project (IPP) has been ordered by the South African Department of Energy (DoE).
KEPCO Aims to Build Global Energy Belt
Of late, KEPCO has been accelerating efforts to expand global presence with the winning of additional power projects.
KEPCO has gotten a foothold in North America by singing a deal to buy a photovoltaic power plant from Carlyle Group. The company 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.
In a related development, KEPCO said on Aug. 29 that the company landed a nearly 45 billion won order from Dominica to build 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.
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.
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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Dominican President Danilo Medina holds a meeting with KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik on Aug. 29 in which they discussed ways of implementing a pilot project and nurturing manpower.
KEPCO Selected as Preferred Negotiator of $2.14 Billion Coal-Fired Project in South Africa
Korea Electric Power Corp. has been designated as a preferred negotiator for the international bidding of the $2.14 billion independent power project (IPP) ordered by the South African Department of Energy (DoE). The South African DoE announced the selection of a consortium, led by KEPCO as a preferred negotiator of the coal-fired power plant construction and operation project on Oct. 10.
KEPCO has teamed up with Marubeni Corp., and four local companies to participate in the project.
KEPCO and Marubeni Corp. will each take up a 24.5 percent stake in the project, while four local companies will share the remaining 51 percent stake.
The project calls for the construction of a 630MW-class coal-fired power plant in Lapalele, Limpopo, 300km northwest of Johannesburg. The project will take a Build, Own & Operate (BOO) format in which a contract will be signed to sell all electricity generated by the projected plant to the South African state-run power company Eskom for 30 years.
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