Officials and staff of Korea District Heating Corp. applaud at the opening of their new office in the Kodeok District in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 5. (Photo: KDHC)

Korea District Heating Corp. (KDHC) set up its office in Godeok District in Pyeongtaek, Geyonggi Province, on Sept. 5 to direct the company’s plan to supply environmentally friendly energy to some 60,000 houses in the Godeok Internationalization Plan District Complex.

President Hwang Chang-hwa said the project to supply stable energy to the Godeok district would help the company share in strengthening the base for continued growth thru the expansion in collective energy supply.

The complex to be completed in November 2021 will be made of the energy supply and related facilities.

It will have energy supplied from nearby combined heat and power plants in Dongtan, Osan and Osong, with excess energy utilized as much as possible in cooperation with Samyoung E&E, an incineration business firm while peak load boilers will be operated to supply the shortage in heat.

The project calls for supplying district heat to 60,000 households and around 70 public and business facilities in the Pyeongtaek area by 2033.

Officials of KDHC said they plan to coordinate with regional energy suppliers to make good use of both wasted and excess energy to help boost the effective use of energy while doing the best to help reducing the air pollutants including dusts in the area.

The Korea District Heating Corp. (KDHC) is considered to be synonymous with the Korean community energy industry.
The predecessor of the KDHC was established as the nation’s first home and commercial district heat business operator in 1986. It shifted into a public entity with the current name in May 1992 in accordance with the enactment of the Community Energy Business Act.

The corporation is the nation’s largest district heating business operator with 18 business sites 12 in the Seoul metropolitan area and six in provincial districts covering 1.44 million apartment housing units and 2,260 commercial buildings.

The community energy business operator simultaneously produces and supplies electricity and heat. Combined-cycle units generate electricity using 50 percent of the energy they get by burning liquefied natural gas, and supplies the remainder as heat, hot water and heating energies to households and commercial buildings.

The KDHC’s combined cycle power units are eco-friendly, with a reduction in energy consumption, greenhouse gas and fine dust emissions. The benefits they bring to society are estimated to amount to 9 trillion won annually.

The KDHC has so far made strenuous efforts to expand eco-friendly power generation. On top of solar energy, the corporation generates power using heat caused by burning of regionally thrown garbage, methane gas from landfill sites, bio gas, geothermal heat, and other new and renewable energies.

For instance, the corporation produces 1,585MEh of electricity annually by operating photovoltaic power facilities in Daegu, Shinan, Bungdang, Pangyo, Suwon and Yangsan. Incineration produces 1.682 million Gcal of heat and steam caused by burning generates 81,000MWh of electricity annually. Landfill gas and bio gas produce 11,000MWh of power per year.

The KDHC is accelerating efforts to develop eco-friendly energies.

The corporation is joining forces with outside related institutions to explore new and renewable energies. The corporation signed an agreement on the expanding of port new and renewable energies with the Incheon Port Authority and Korea South-East Power (KOEN) on Sept. 22.

Under the deal, the three will work on the exploration of new and renewable energies using sunlight and winds, unlimited resources of the ocean and ports.

They have agreed to set up eco-friendly new and renewable energy facilities in idle backwater areas of Incheon Port. The project is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create new jobs and contribute to the reinvigoration of the regional economy.