KOMIPO Officially Inaugurates Boryeong Thermal Units 7&8

As KOMIPO's technological power is globally recognized, the Boryeong Thermal Power Complex changes into an education center for foreign electricity experts

Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO President Bae Sung-ki) held a ceremony to officially inaugurate Boryeong Thermal Power Units 7&8 on June 17. The project for building the latest units with a capacity of 1 million kW, an equivalent of lighting 120 million 40-watt household florescent lamps, broke ground in March 2005 and cost 1.26 trillion won before its completion 45 months later. They were put into commercial operation last December. The units add to the existing coal-fired thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 4 million kW (500,000kW x 8 units) and combined cycle power plants with a combined capacity of 1.8 million kW (450,000kWx4units) to become the nation's largest power complex with a total capacity of 5.8 million kW, accounting for 8.2 percent of the nation's total electricity supply.
Boryeong Thermal Power Units 7&8 complement a nearly 30-year history of the development of the Boryeong Power Complex since December 1979, when the Boryeong Units 1&2 project broke ground, then called the Gojeong Thermal Power Plant, named after its neighborhood village.
In particular, Boryeong Thermal Power Unit 3 became a Korean standard for coal-fired thermal power units with a capacity of 500,000 kW, built with Korean technology, which sprung up later across the nation.
Boryeong Thermal Power Unit 7, which began commercial operations last July, ushered in an era of 70 million kW capacity in Korea. Korea, which had an electricity capacity of 199,000 kW in 1945, surpassed the 1 million kW barrier in 1968, the 10 million kW barrier in 1982 and the 50 million barrier in 2001. The nation now has an electricity capacity of 73.18 million kW as of June 10, 2009.
At the Boryeong Power Complex, Boryeong Small Hydro Power Plants with a combined capacity of 7l5MW (1.25MW x 6 units) will be inaugurated in July to recycle waste seawater for cooling power units.























The Boryeong Power Complex has established itself as an integrated power complex by adding a 526kW-class photovoltaic power facility and a 300kW-class fuel cell facility.
The ceremony for officially inaugurating Boryeong Thermal Power Units 7&8 coincided with the opening of Boryeong Energy World, an electricity energy education and experience center, which is expected to emerge as a tourist attraction together with Daecheon Beach and other tourist spots.
The electricity for Boryeong Energy World comes from in-house fuel cell, wind power, photovoltaic energy and geothermal energy facilities, which gives spectators a glimpse into the principle of thermal power generation. Boryeong Energy World has an observatory, seminar rooms and an auditorium, which will be open to neighborhood residents.
The Boryeong Thermal Power Complex serves as a role model for Korea's power construction and operational capabilities, which facilitates Korea's exploration of overseas markets. Boryeong Thermal Power Unit 3, the first one built with Korea's own technology, has also registered a 3,500-day accident-free record this past April, becoming an unprecedented achievement in Korea as well as in the world. The unit won the world's top-rate power award from Electric Power International, a U.S. power magazine, in 1996. It also won the Asian Power Award last October and it was designated as the 2008 Power Plant of the Year on May 11.
As KOMIPO's technological power is globally recognized, the Boryeong Thermal Power Complex has been frequented by foreign electricity experts.
The Boryeong Thermal Power Educational Institute, a center for providing simulation education to newly recruited KOMIPO employees, has become a place where 200 electricity engineers from seven countries including Iraq, Libya and Kuwait have undergone training. nw

Notables, including KOMIPO President Bae Sung-ki, cut the tape to officially inaugurate Boryeong Thermal Power Units 7&8.

An aerial view of the Boryeong Power Complex.