KOWEPO’s Taean integrated coal gasification combined cycle facility achieved a world record for accident-free operation set at 3,993 hours on Jan. 28.

President Kim Byeong-sook of Korea Western Power(KOWEPO). (Photos: KOWEPO)

Korea Western Power Co. (KOWEPO) saw its integrated coal gasification combined cycle facility in Taean, Chungcheongnam-do, top a world record for accident-free operation.

KOWEPO’s Taean IGCC facility logged 3,993 hours of accident-free operation, the world’s longest streak free of accidents, from Aug. 14, 2020 to 0:37 a.m. on Jan. 28.

It surpassed 4,000 hours of accident-free operation at 7:37 a.m. on the same day, renewing a world record.

The previous record was set by Japan’s Nakoso IGCC facility, which logged 3,917 hours of accident-free operation in 2013. China’s Tenjin IGCC facility recorded 3,993 hours in 2018.

It was noteworthy that Taean’s IGCC facility achieved the accident-free feat four years and six months after its dedication.

On the other hand, the previous world records were set six years following their dedication.

The Taean facility’s achievement takes on significance given the fact that its counterparts in the United States, which had been operated for more than 20 years, recorded only 2,088 hours of accident-free operation.

Unlike coal-fired thermal power plants burning coal using air, IGCC facilities are capable of gasifying coal under a high temperature and a high pressure to operate turbines.

IGCC facilities, outfitted with a web of gasification and other eco-friendly measures, are required to meet optimal interoperation conditions.

The Netherlands’ Nuon power plant, the world’s first IGCC facility, made its debut in 1994. IGCC facilities have been operating in the United States, Japan, China and Spain.

The Taean facility setting a new world record was owed to KOWEPO’s scrutiny of IGCC facilities, localizing the refractory of the coal gasifier and improving other facilities.

KOWEPO President Kim Byeong-sook said, “Taean’s IGCC facility renewing the world record was owed to joint achievement made with technology power based on collaboration with its cooperative companies.”

Kim extended thanks to KOWEPO’s staff and its cooperative companies for stabilizing the facilities. He called for them to concentrate their capabilities to achieve a great record of 6,200 hours of accident-free operation slated for May.

KOWEPO to Build 10MW Fuel Cell Plant in Geojae

KOWEPO struck an MOU on the joint development of a fuel cell plant in Geojae, in which city gas was not made available with Gyeongsangnam-do, Geojae City and Kyungnam Energy on Feb. 18.

The agreement calls for constructing a 10MW fuel cell generation facility to supply the city and 675 neighboring residents.

The project is a large-scale power plant project, but a village-scale one, being built on the idle site of a sewage treatment plant.

A 10MW fuel cell generation facility is capable of producing about 78,000AMWh of electricity annual, catering to about 24,000 houses.