KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik, LSIS Chairman Koo Ja-kyun, Montgomery College President DeRionne Pollard, and Maryland Gov. Rarry Hogan participate in a ceremony to sign a letter of intent to build a smart campus at Montgomery College in Maryland, Washington DC on Nov. 18. (Photo: KEPCO)

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) is devoting itself to realizing the goal of becoming a global power utilities company. 

In the latest development, KEPCO signed a letter of intent on Nov. 18 to build a smart campus at Montgomery College in Maryland, Washington DC. Attending at the signing ceremony at the Maryland state government building were KEPCO President Cho Hwan-eik, LSIS Chairman Koo Ja-kyun, Montgomery College President DeRionne Pollard, and Maryland Gov. Rarry Hogan. 

The deal may be construed as the first of KEPCO’s efforts to strengthen its presence in the North American smart gird market, business analysts said.

“KEPCO, which is no longer limited to being a domestic utilities company, is striving to change it into a global power utilities company.” KEPCO President Cho said. 

“This project will serve as an opportunity to demonstrate its capabilities in the smart grid, smart town and smart city construction segments, thus helping KEPCO expand its businesses to the whole of the United States.” 

The project calls the injection of a combined $3.3 million to convert six Montgomery College buildings into energy-saving smart buildings. Out of the total cost, Montgomery College will shoulder $1.5 million, while KEPCO and LSIS will invest $800,000 and $1 million, respectively. LSIS will install photovoltaic power facilities and an energy storage system (ESS), which will store the electricity from the power generation facilities to supply it to the whole of the campus. KEPCO will be in charge of installing the Building Energy Management System (BEMS) at six campus buildings. 

“If and when this smart campus system is in place, smart campus buildings will use the power from the photovoltaic power facilities, and unused electricity in vacant classroom will turn off thanks to smart concentric plugs and lightings, and the school will be powered by solar energy during the day and by stored energy during the night.” he said. The smart campus is expected to reduce the school’s energy consumption by 15 to 20 percent annually. 

KEPCO President Cho also hopes to build an energy preservation system based on the Internet of Things (IoT). The latest deal will help KEPCO take a step closer to becoming a global energy company, he said. KEPCO is expected to accelerate efforts to tap the North American markets, including Canada, by making the most of the Maryland project. To this end, KEPCO is to implement a microgrid project in Canada and Virginia, the United States under a partnership the Korean power company has signed with PowerStream, a Canadian power company.

KEPCO has already completed the development of solutions for the optimal power supply under a town microgrid system on top of that of the BEMS. KEPCO won the Maryland smart campus deal one month after KEPCO Human Resources Development Institute introduced and succeeded in commercializing smart town technology in Korea. Feasibility studies are under way on ESS projects in 13 U.S. states, including Maryland, New York and California.     

KEPCO Aims to Build Global Energy Belt

Under the stewardship of President Cho, KEPCO is hitting the gas to realize 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 the 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. 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.