President Hwang Chang-hwa of Korea District Heating Corp. is seen at his inaugural ceremony on Oct. 1 held at the company’s auditorium. (Photos: KDHC)

President Hwang Chang-hwa delivers his inauguration speech at a ceremony on Oct. 1 at the company’s auditorium.

KDHC Korea District Heating Corp. (KDHC) officially designated Hwang Chang-hwa to be its next president on Sept. 19, the company said recently. The KDHC said the former director of the National Assembly Library, a civil engineering graduate of Yonsei University, was an assistant to Rep. Lim Chae-jong and also the second political affairs secretary to former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan.

He will be officially installed at his new office as soon as his designation is approved by President Moon Jae-in.

A district heating system that supplies heat or heat and electricity to multiple users can be an alternative for efficient energy use. The energy efficiency of the district heating system that uses cogeneration system reaches 80%, while that of general power generation type is approximately 30-40%. Advanced countries already adopted “expansion and distribution of cogeneration systems” as a national energy policy and are promoting the policy, and the system use rate is higher than 50%.

In Korea, where population density and urban concentration are high, district heating system is good for solving the problem of heat demand density efficiently.

The system is also an effective option to raise energy independence in response to an emergency like major blackout caused by energy concentration. However, system providers are suffering difficulties because in 2012, the distribution rate of district heating system in Korea is only 14% but the prices of LNG to produce heat are high and system use fees are relatively low, resulting in low profitability.

Fortunately, various policies are being established to adopt and settle efficient systems, and academia has been conducting studies to set up the best operating methods for proper supply of the system.

Studies on district heating system’s optimum modeling and performance optimization and best operating methods for efficient heat supply and distribution have been conducted, but in the field, various factors occur and it is hard to estimate whether or not the heat source facility’s supply capacity calculated in the planning phase can cover the area.

To develop basic design for setting the locations of heat source facilities and laying heat pipes, data and materials on general building composition ratio, supply scale, and operating status of various buildings using district heating system currently being operated.

Many countries around the world have been executing district heating system projects to promote the efficient use of energy and boost the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Unlike Japan and European countries where the district heating system projects have been successfully implemented, Korea has difficulties in executing the projects because of supply heavily relying on new housing sites; fuel costs of energy and supplying market prices; and conflicts over interests between government-owned agencies and suppliers, thereby producing low profitability and accordingly low feasibility and distribution rate.