KOEN headquarters in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do. (Photos: KOEN)

President Lyu Hyang-yeol of Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN).

Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN) plans to raise its portion of new and renewable power generation to 25 percent by 2030. To this end, KOEN President Lyu Hyang-yeol said in an interview KOEN will invest a combined 25 trillion won to raise the portion of new and renewal power generation in the power generation portfolio from current 2 percent to 25 percent.

The plan is a more aggressive one than the government’s “2020” goal of raising the percentage of new and renewable power generation to 20 percent by 2030.

“Our nation’s territory is narrow, but conditions for wind power generation on land are not quite good,” President Lyu was quoted as saying. But the nation, surrounded by three seas, has better conditions to generate off-shore wind power, he noted.

Currently, KOEN has a power generation portfolio in which 89 percent of power generation depends on thermal power, followed by LNG with a 9 percent share and new & renewable energy with a 2 percent portion.

In the past, because of cheaper, good quality power generation, coal-fired power generation was a mainstay business, but a clean, safe power generation has become a global trend in the wake of the Paris deal on climate change, Lyu said. KOEN plans to expand LNG and new/renewable energy power generation as a future growth engine, he added.

KOEN boasts the Tamna Off-shore Wind Power Plant, the nation’s first marine wind power plant in commercial operation, and the Gunsan Water Photovoltaic Power Plant, the largest-ever such one in Korea.

The power company is working on the construction of off-shore wind power plants with a combined capacity of 600MW in areas such Wando and Shinan County, Jeollanam-do. KOEN is seeking to build photovoltaic power facilities on old salt farms with large amounts of sunshine and infertile reclaimed areas.

Making the most of his stint as KEPCO senior executive vice president in charge of overseas business, President Lyu is accelerating efforts to explore overseas power markets. The domestic power market is entering a slow growth stage, with competition among power companies getting fierce, so their oversea market entry is inevitable, Lyu said.

To this end, he said, KOEN has inaugurated the Overseas Business and Business Strategy departments to ramp up business risk analysis and management capabilities. KOEN is engaging hydro power generation projects in Nepal and Pakistan.

The power company is working on photovoltaic power projects in Bulgaria and Chile. KOEN has also signed agreements on photovoltaic power and joint resources development projects in countries such as Kuwait, Vietnam and Ukraine.

KOEN has already established a mid- and long-term roadmap to reduce fine dust emission reduction, calling for investing 1.033 trillion won by 2025.

President Lyu Sets New Year’s Business Buzzword “damsojayak”

Reflecting on last year, KOEN President Lyu said despite a low growth trend of the domestic power market and difficult business conditions, KOEN have some flowers in blossom.

As a representative case, KOEN successfully dedicated the Gunsan Water Photovoltaic Power Plant, the nation’s largest solar facility, and the power company built foundation to implement photovoltaic power and off-shore wind power projects in the Southwest Coast.

KOEN also secured a driving force to expand overseas business projects in order to overcome the limits of the domestic power industry. The achievements were owed to labor and management’s joining forces in unison and staff’s dedication and efforts, he said.

President Lyu set New Year’s business buzzword “damsojayak,” a Chinese saying, designed to express KOEN’s determination to rise to a top public entity without faltering despite any environment hardship.