KEPCO to Enter Power Markets
in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan

Will ink a deal to build a co-generation power plant in Azerbaijan in April; has signed an MOU with CAPEC in Kazakhstan

The Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) will sign a contract to construct a 750MW-class gas co-generation plant in Azerbaijan in April.
Industry sources said the upcoming deal will pave the way for KEPCO to secure a foundation in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. A consortium headed by KEPCO is said to be financing 60 to 70 percent of the cost of the project, estimated at $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
The construction of the co-generation power plant is to be undertaken by a Korean E&C firm, according to the sources.
KEPCO is in talks on the operation of the planned plant for 25 years with the Azerbaijan government, which has recognized KEPCO's prowess in the operation of power plants, they said.
Azerbaijan, which has made economic strides with the flow of oil dollars in the wake of global crude oil price hikes, has struggled to make massive investments to cope with a shortage of power.
KEPCO has stepped up its overseas presence since the company entered the Philippine market for the first time in its history.
In 2006, KEPCO was awarded the right to operate two power plants in Lebanon, which account for half of the power supply for the Middle Eastern country.
In a related development, KEPCO signed an MOU with the Central Asian Power Energy Company (CAPEC) at the KEPCO head office in Seoul on March 5.
The agreement calls for KEPCO and CAPEC to participate in joint power projects in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
CAPEC, with a total capacity of 930MW, produced 4,436,000 kWh of power in 2007.
Astana plans to build a coal-fired thermal power plant with a capacity of 240MW and raise the capacity of the existing power plants from 360MW to 600MW in order to ease the power shortage there.
Kazakhstan, a natural resources-rich Central Asian country, has posted about a 10 percent economic growth rate per annum nowadays, but has been faced with an ever-worsening shortage of power.
Kazakh Prime Minister Umirzak Shukeev, who recently came here to participate in the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak government, has called on Korea to make investments to expand infrastructure through projects linking crude oil exploration and power plant construction. The Kazakh government plans to modernize the power industry through power plant upgrades, additional power plant construction, and power transmission and distribution network updates and expansions. The modernization plan will cost the Kazakh government an aggregate of $10.5 billion to raise power production by two-thirds of the current level. nw

KEPCO Chairman and CEO Lee Won-gul shakes hands with CAPEC President Artambayeba after signing an MOU on cooperation at the KEPCO headquarters in Seoul.