President Park Il-joon of Korea East-West Power Co. (EWP), executives and staff attend a ceremony to kick off the 2020 business year.

Korea East-West Power Co. (EWP) held a ceremony to kick off the 2020 business year and mark new employees joining the power company.

The ceremony was held at EWP headquarters in Ulsan on Jan. 2.

The theme of the kick-off meeting of the New Year was “New Decade! We’ll Reward with Integrity, Green Energy,” and the ceremony coincided with a calligraphy performance on the topic of integrity and environment.

With management’s participation, EWP pledged its determination to supply clean “green energy” by pursuing integrity in people’s health and happiness.

The New Year ceremony was followed by an event to greet 53 freshmen and career employees. Among the new employees hired during the second half of last year were 10 employees appointed from the region and 11 high school graduates, part of a job creation plan designed to realize social values.

In the latest employment, EWP hired six employees from the poor underprivileged bracket and eight career employees in the safety job category to spread a corporate culture to attach priority on ensuring safety.

Following the events, EWP executives and staff were engaged in an environmental cleanup volunteer drive around EWP headquarters. In the afternoon of the day, they toured Ulsan Grand Park and paid homage to a memorial monument of those killed in action during the Korean War.

They renewed their pledge to fulfill its responsibilities as a public entity pursing safety and integrity.

EWP Registers 0.011 percent in Forced Outage Rate, Best-Ever

EWP logged a 0.011 percent forced outage rate last year, thanks to its scientific equipment management tactics and overall accident preventive activities.

The figure was the best-ever recorded by any power company, who was spun off from Korea Electric Power Corp. in April 2001.

It means that 37 power generating units being operated by EWP stopped only 0.7 days out of 365 days in operation, proving the power company’s superb power unit operation and management technology capability.

EWP managed to explore accident patterns according to each stage of life cycle and each special time by introducing equipment management tactics based on data analyses, which has lead to a dramatic reduction in malfunction.

The power company has also strengthened overall accident preventive activities like the operation of an e-Brain Center, designed to detect abnormal symptoms in advance and provide comprehensive solutions with the introduction of the technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

As a result, Dangjin Thermal Power Unit 8 recently surpassed 60,000 hours in an accident-free run. It meant that the unit operated without malfunction for seven years and six months.

The unit is challenging a new goal this year – marking a zero in forced outage rate.

A view of EWP headquarters in Ulsan. (Photos: EWP)