Sustainable Green Growth
Korea Southern Power Corporation (KOSPO) announced it received the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI’s) 2014 International Edison Award on Jun. 10. The awards ceremony was held in ARIA Hotel in Las Vegas.
EEI’s International Edison Award is the electric power industry’s most prestigious honor which gives prizes to companies that have made great contributions in developing the electric power industry. EEI began giving out this award since 1922, and it is a reliable benchmark in electric power industry for the judgment strictly bases on the company’s performance in management innovation, the ability to conduct projects, and the development of technology.
By receiving this award, KOSPO’s ability in management and technology in carbon capture and reuse (CCR) and circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustion have acclaimed global recognition, which will be a reliable stepping stone for KOSPO to enter the global market.
Last year, KOSPO reached 7 trillion won (US$6.9 billion) in sales. This is within 80th in rank among all financial sectors in Korea, and second in rank to Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) among all electric power companies. Since its spinoff from KEPCO in 2011, the sales has grown more than five times, from 1.32 trillion won (US$1.29 billion).
This is because KOSPO actively engaged in global business and made substantial performance. At the end of last year, KOSPO formed a consortium with Samsung C&T and successfully acquired the construction and management project for BHP Kelar combined gas power plant, which Chile Agency of an Australian global mine enterprise BHP Billiton ordered. The project size is about US$580 million (595 billion won), and the construction began early this year. It is expected to be completed at the end of 2016, with the capability of supplying a maximum of 3,400GWh of electricity per year to copper mines and industrial complex.
Also with Korean SMEs, KOSPO successfully entered Chinese market for building environmental facilities. Last year, KOSPO signed a joint venture agreement with several environmental facility companies in China in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Also, when the construction of Kelar power plant in Chile is completed, about 500 million won (US$489,000) of equipment made in Korea is going to be exported every year, along with jobs from private companies. Last October, KOSPO has been selected as the preferred company for operation and maintenance project of combined thermoelectric power plant in Turkey, so even more jobs will be created.
KOSPO is also actively investing in creating cleaner energy to provide reliable, affordable and increasingly clean electricity to customers in current situations of extreme climate change.
To follow the government policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and earn leadership in the global response to climate change, KOSPO is onto the development of 100 units of domestic wind turbines, expanding the supply of clean energy such as natural gas and low-carbon fuel, and developing carbon capture and reuse (CCR) and circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustion.
Recently, KOSPO constructed the world’s largest and first dry process 10-megawatt CO2 capture facility at the Hadong Thermal Power Plant No. 8. This 10MW dry carbon dioxide capturing plant can capture 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, the same effect as planting 14 million pine trees that can absorb 5kg of carbon dioxide per year. This is the first-in-theworld pilot facility to be applied to the power plant.
KOSPO is not just going to stop at storing CO2 but advance to capture and reuse (CCR), ultimately Capture & Reuse to build a foundation for profit and also creates jobs.
Also, to enforce safety culture and teach emergency response capability, KOPSPO has introduced and is currently operating state-of-the art technology. From 2013, KOSPO implemented Behavior Based Safety (BBS) program to help workers to understand the importance of safety and help them to take safer actions. It also implemented Business Continuity Management (BCM), disaster recovery program, to all departments to help workers get back to work quickly from disasters. It is also rechecking manuals on disaster and safety at once, and training the workers to handle the crisis well periodically, all to strengthen the worker’s ability to handle different kinds of situations. All these efforts became the key factors for KOSPO to receive ISO 22301 in disaster response sector.