In Transformation

The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), which supplies approximately 40% of the electricity consumed in Korea through nuclear, hydroelectric and pumping-up power generation, is increasing its investment in new and renewable energy for sustainable future growth.

Back in December 2007, the 13th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Bali Roadmap to add Korea to the list of Annex I countries in 2013. As a result, the development and commercialization of alternative energy sources is not an option but a requirement.

To cope with this situation in advance, KHNP signed a renewable portfolio agreement (RPA) with the Korean government to fulfill its role as a new and renewable energy supplier and state-run enterprise.

Nowadays, KHNP is concentrating on the balanced development of atomic, hydro and alternative power generation technologies. It has designed and launched a series of economically viable projects for this purpose. In particular, it has been working on the development and commercial utilization of tidal, water, small hydro, wind and solar power and fuel cell technologies.

The company is planning to build a tidal power plant in Incheon City, which will consist of 44 units of 30MW water turbine generators. The total capacity is more than five times larger than the world’s biggest tidal power station in France, whose size reaches 240MW.

Once into full operation, the facility is expected to produce 2.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, equivalent to 4.5% of Korea’s total household power consumption. At the same time, it will replace imports worth 350 billion won and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons.

Its positive spillover effects do not stop there. A road on the seawall will connect Ganghwa Island, Yeongjong Island and the capital region, thus creating a new cultural living area. Furthermore, its proximity to the Seoul/Incheon International Airport will help raise its value as a tourist attraction for transfer passengers.

When it comes to waterpower generation, KHNP is running ten facilities with a combined capacity of 539MW. In addition, it has acquired 3.6MW small hydro power equipment through the Korea Electric Power Corporation’s transfer of pumping-up power stations since January 2011 and is intending to make similar investments in the future once the feasibility of such resources is proven.

Furthermore, it is moving ahead with a 60MW fuel cell power plant construction project in Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province due to be completed in 2013, as well as making continuous efforts in the field of onshore wind power in conjunction with local governments.

Recently, KHNP announced that it will be engaged in more clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. To this end, it will turn nuclear and alternative energy projects into CDM-related ones in the short-term, while acquiring relevant technologies in the long-term until it becomes capable of running the entire carbon credit creation process.

The corporation is also currently mulling over atomic power generation projects in the framework of CDM. With an increasing number of experts calling for the inclusion of nuclear power in the CDM, it will cooperate with the central government and examine the long-term roadmap for consistent progress.

In the meantime, KHNP received the Green Energy Award from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy on June 23. The prize was for its nuclear waste vitrification technique, in which waste can be locked in for hundreds of years and the volume reduced approximately one-thirtieth. The technique is the first in the world to be commercially available. The United States, France and many other countries have attempted to come up with such a technique but failed. The prize is given each year to organizations that have contribute significantly to technological R&D, industrial and environmental innovation, national economic and green growth, etc.