Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) President Lee Sang-ho urged all staff members to be on a crisis management footing to tide over external and internal uncertainties, which are getting worse than ever before. 

"We're now faced with challenges and opportunities. Externally, the global financial crisis that has begun in the euro zone is forecast to weigh heavily on the global economy, and internally, business uncertainties such as the prolonging of the sluggish economy are predicted to be exacerbated amid high tensions caused by the latest developments in North Korea," he said in his New Year message. 

"The policy paradigm is shifting, making the stable supply of electricity its top priority, rather than a profit-oriented one, following the Sept. 15 power stoppage, and in particular, the designation of power companies as market-oriented public enterprises and the government's implementation of the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) system pose challenges for our management innovation," he said. 

"Public expectations over public enterprises go before our pace of change, and global companies that vie for the hegemony in the global power market keep a watchful eye on us, so a companywide crisis management footing is called for to wisely overcome the worse-than-ever external and internal management conditions." 

Looking back at the year 2011, Lee said, KOSPO made achievements such as topping the 2010 management evaluation list among power companies; becoming the first power company to surpass the 5 trillion won threshold in sales; launching a project to build the eco-friendly Samcheok Green Power Plant; adopting the homegrown 1000MW Advanced Thermal Power Plant (ATP-1000) export model; and exploring a coal mine in Indonesia on its own.   

"Last year, we declared the new vision toward 2020, titled 'Global Top 10 Power Company,' and I stressed the management tenets: 'New Start, Growth of Technology and Value' in order to translate the vision into action when taking office." Lee urged his staff to make the year 2012 a year for fortifying a foundation for realizing that vision. 

Regarding management goals KOSPO will carry out during 2012, first, Lee called for bringing KOSPO back to basics. He said KOSPO is an enterprise for the state and people with the major responsibility of ensuring a stable power supply from the mid- and long-term perspective, so KOSPO needs to secure top-rated credibility of power generation equipment by making the most of the nation's accumulated superlative power generation technology, and the company has to ensure the breakdown-free operation of power plants, particularly during the winter peak season when public worry about possible breakdowns are mounting.

KOSPO will have to devote itself to completing the construction of low-cost, high-efficiency plants such as the Samcheok Green Power and the Andong Natural Gas-fired Power Plant, both underway, on time, he said. 

Lee noted that KOSPO should secure competitiveness with the world's lowest power generation unit price, the key for sustainable growth. The company must shift to a structure of a virtuous cycle in which proceeds arising from unit price reductions are reinvested into the execution of new projects, he said. 

Second, he called for KOSPO to seize opportunities ahead of others in order to take the upper hand in the global market and create a success story for itself. 

This year is the first year for implementing the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) system under the government's low-carbon, green growth initiative, so KOSPO, taking the lead as a wind power generator, now has to turn to diverse strategies, including the biomass strategy on top of the construction of new and renewable energy plants. 

Third, he called for KOSPO to lay a solid foundation for the future. "Our company needs to have strong enough fundamentals to weather external uncertainties so as to develop KOSPO into a global company, and the DNA corresponding to that standing should be implanted in our bodies," he said.  nw