A view of Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO) in Boryeong, Chungcheongnam-do.

Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO) is accelerating efforts to cut fine dust emissions from its power plants.

KOMIPO plans to pour 1.653 trillion won into lowering pollution emissions from power facilities in the Boryung Power complex by 2022, and new power facilities in Shin Boryung and Shin Seocheon power units, which are still under construction. New power facilities will see pollution emissions cut to 75 percent of emission levels in 2015. 

Recognizing the importance of the development of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, KOMIPO dedicated a 10MW-class CO2 capture facility at the Boryung Thermal Power Plant in May 2013. The CO2 capture facility is the largest-ever in Korea. It was dedicated thanks to a 10-year technology development project, which cost 46.3 billion won.

CO2 is reused to prevent the mixing of impurities in precession welding for vinyl greenhouses to expand farm production and carbon dioxide for beverage drinks. CO2 supplies in Korea stand at about 550,000 tons annually.

The C02 capture facility has no storage, so CO2, being captured by the technology, has been emitted into the air, but a facility to commercialize CO2 capture and storage is being installed. 

In May 2015, KOMIPO signed a deal on CO2 supply and reuse with Hankook Special Gases Co. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through its application in the farming sector. It is expected to contribute to the commercialization of the CO2 capture and storage technology and creating farming incomes.

KOMIPO has decided to upgrade facilities into eco-friendly ones on three stages until 2025. The first stage project calls for the upgrading of eco-friendly facilities like those for denitrification by 2018. The second stage project calls for having Borung Thermal Power Units 3 through 6, aged more than 20, outfitted with the world’s top-class eco-friendly facilities. The third stage project calls for having Boryung Thermal Power Units 7 & 8, aged less than 20, outfitted with eco-friendly facilities by 2025, five years earlier than the government planned.