KEPCO's Remote Meter Reading Technology Becomes Int'l Standard

Paves the way for Korea to jump ahead in the global market

Korea's smart grid project has made a good start as the remote meter reading technology developed by Korea Electric Power Corp. has been chosen as an international standard.
KEPCO said on July 31 that high-speed Power Line Communication (PLC) technology, developed with its own technology, has been picked up as a standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
PLC, using the existing power lines, allows KEPCO employees to conduct remote meter reading without visiting each household.
A KEPCO official said, "Even though all projects being carried out in Korea and abroad are in their initial stages, the selection of PLC as an international standard would earn Korea an opportunity to jump ahead in the global market."
Currently, KEPCO is conducting a pilot project in which electricity, gas and tap water meters of 56,000 households are read remotely. KEPCO plans to publicize the high-speed PLC technology in the global market. KEPCO plans to propose the use of the PLC technology to the Saudi Arabian power authority with which the Korean utility company has agreed to provide consulting services for the remote meter reading of about 4 million households there.
KEPCO's PLC technology will be adopted by a smart grid pilot project at the smart grid complex to be built in Jeju by December. Korea was selected as a leader of the smart grid sector at the Major Economies Forum of the G-8 Summit held in Italy on July 9.
Keen attention is being paid to whether Korea's smart grid technology will be chosen as a global standard. nw

KEPCO Buys Stake in Adaro Energy
CEO Kim propose joint natural resources development projects

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) has acquired a 1.5 percent interest in Adaro Energy, an Indonesian bituminous coal exporter, for $56.5 million, it said.
The deal is expected to help KEPCO not just gain a foothold for natural resources exploration in Indonesia, but to also secure a supply of 3 million tons of bituminous coal annually, thus contributing to stabilizing the supply of fuel used for generating power, industrial analysts said.
KEPCO and Adaro Energy have forged a strategic alliance through which they are expected to work out more bilateral win-win strategies.
Adaro Energy is the fifth biggest bituminous coal exporter in the world and the second largest mining major in the Southeast Asian country, which has vertical integration ranging from coal production to transportation and sale. The company produced 40 million tons of coal last year and plans to ramp up production to 80 million tons per annum in 2015.
In a related development, in a meeting with CEOs of general trading companies, KEPCO Chairman and CEO Kim Ssang-su made a proposal for a joint resources development project among Korean companies, saying that the next few months would be the last opportune chance to explore for natural resources. This past June, KEPCO took a big step toward the self-sufficiency of Korea's power fuel supply as it signed a deal to purchase nearly one-fifth of Canadian uranium producer Denison Mines' stock and became the biggest shareholder of one of the world's top 10 uranium producers.
KEPCO said on April 15 that it inked an MOU to take over a 19.9 percent interest in Denison Mines. The deal would grant KEPCO the right to 300 tons of uranium annually by 2015, which is equivalent to 8 percent of the nation's total annual uranium demand. If a contract is inked in June as planned, it would raise Korea's own uranium development rate from naught to 8 percent.
KEPCO agreed to purchase 58 million shares for a total of C$75.4 million at C$1.30 per share. Denison Mines, a comprehensive uranium producer responsible for production, development, mine exploration and refining, has recently suffered from a lack of liquidity. nw

KEPCO Chairman and CEO Kim Ssang-su poses with CEOs of general trading companies after their meeting in which Kim proposed collaboration for exploring overseas natural resources.