KEPCO E&C Sees Itself as Global Top 5 Power EPC Leader

Leaps to the new & renewable based on the NPP competence

KEPCO E&C President Ahn Seung-kyoo and Jeju Gov. Woo Keun-min sign an MOU on the construction of the nation's largest offshore wind power complex on Jeju Island. (right) An artist's conception of the projected wind power complex.

A project to build four nuclear power units in the coastal area of Braka, 300 km west of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, was launched with a ceremony on March 14. The groundbreaking ceremony has great significance for KEPCO E&C, which has raced for it with a task force in place since the Korean consortium, led by Korea Electric Power Corp., was awarded the project in December 2009.
KEPCO E&C is Korea's sole company capable of designing both nuclear power plants and reactor systems. Since its establishment in 1975 with the objective of designing power plants, KEPCO E&C has played a leading role in the domestic power industry by ensuring technological self-sufficiency related to the design of the homegrown nuclear power reactors, OPR1000 and APR1400, as well as the design of Yongkwang Nuclear Power Units 3&4 in 1987 and all following units.
The company is expanding its business environment abroad by exporting the technologies it has so far acquired since Korea's winning of the nuclear power plant project in the UAE. KEPCO E&C is expected to play its part as the company in charge of the design of Korean-type nuclear power plants since KEPCO has signed a consulting service contract with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on design certification (DC) on March 8. The NRC oversees reactor safety, reactor licensing and renewal, radioactive material safety and licensing, and spent fuel management such as storage, recycling, and disposal. Thus, the NRC's design certification means more advantages in exporting nuclear power plants. KEPCO E&C is devoting itself to winning more nuclear power plant orders by enhancing its technological competitiveness and specialization despite severe checks by rivals.
KEPCO E&C has made remarkable achievements in several areas, including thermal power, construction & project management/construction management, and power transmission and substation, on top of the nuclear power sector.
In particular, KEPCO E&C President & CEO Ahn Seung-kyoo, who took office in 2009, unveiled its growth goal dubbed "2020 New Vision" and has been devoting all of the company's energy to achieve the goal of making KEPCO E&C a global top five EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) leader. KEPCO E&C's strategies to strengthen its presence in the EPC total solution business and expand its business environs abroad have paid off; the company posted a record high business performance in 2010 with 580.2 billion won in sales, 170.4 billion won in operating profit and 141.3 billion won in net profit. The company is striving to keep on growing this year by diversifying its business portfolios to overseas plant EPC, environment and new & renewable energy business arenas on top of its participation in the emerging nuclear power plant markets.
In particular, KEPCO E&C strives to make the year 2011 the first year for accelerating its bid to tap the so-called blue ocean of the new & renewable energy field. The company, which has experience in diverse new & renewable energy fields, including solar power and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, is focusing on tapping the coastal wind power segment. KEPCO E&C, which has designed the Hangyeong, Seongsan and Samdal wind power plants on Jeju Island as well as the Pyeongchang and Jeongseon wind power plants in Gangwon-do, has decided to set up the nation's largest offshore wind power complex with the Jeju Special Self-governing Provincial Government last December. The project calls for the construction of 34 wind power units with a combined capacity of 102MW (34x3MW). If completed by January 2013, the complex will produce 295,000 MWh of electricity annually, accounting for 9 percent of the island's annual total power consumption and yielding 64.9 billion won in revenues. When the project is registered with the United Nations' list of CDM projects, KEPCO E&C will be awarded 207,210 tons of certified carbon reductions.
KEPCO E&C President Ahn said, "The year 2011 will be a year to determine what it will be like 10 years later. More than half of the projects we are going to carry out during this year will be done abroad, and that is the right direction for our future course." KEPCO E&C sets its sights on being a world-class company by expanding its business portfolios to EPC, environment and new & renewable energy fields, he said. nw

President Cho Joon-hee of Industrial Bank of Korea.
- Photo by courtesy of KEPCO E&C