Power partnership targets developing countries

Korea Midland Power President and CEO Choi Pyeong-rak, right, and Korea International Cooperation Agency President Kim Young-mok celebrate a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday at company headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Provided by the company

Korea Midland Power (Komipo), an affiliate of Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), joined hands with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) to help developing nations supply cleaner and safer energy.

The state-run thermal power generator will expedite engineers and share generation technologies Koica-affiliated countries.

The joint charity projects will start in Indonesia, where Komipo operates a coal thermal power plant.

Komipo President and CEO Choi Pyeong-rak and Koica President Kim Young-mok signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday at company headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

“The joint business deal will become a successful cooperation model between Korea’s two public organizations to contribute to improving energy efficiency and independence in developing countries,” said Choi.

The assistance will be determined depending on the needs of each country. It could include replacing old electricity-related facilities and training local engineers.

Komipo will focus on implementing independent power generation infrastructure in isolated rural communities.

As for technology assistance, Komipo will exchange engineers in Korea and the technology recipient countries for training, and provide free consultations.

The power company is in charge of electricity generation and selling it to state-run power distributor Kepco. Soft coal and gas accounted for more than 90 percent of the total power generated by the company last year, but it hopes to keep raising portion of electricity coming from renewable energy such as solar, wind, seawater and bio-thermal power.

BY KIM JI-YOON [jiyoon.kim@joongang.co.kr]