KEPCO Buys 34% Stake in China Power Venture
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Thursday that it has taken a 34-percent stake in a $1.34 billion (1.24 trillion won) Chinese joint venture that will develop coal mines and also buy and build power plants over the next five decades.
KEPCO President & CEO Lee Won-gul attended a ceremony to mark the launch of Gemeng International Energy Co. in Shanxi Province along with Chinese leaders including Zhang Baoshun, a communist party leader, and Meng Xuenong, governor of the Chinese province.
``We will acquire 15 power plants, build nine power plants and develop nine coal mines in Shanxi Province as part of the joint venture,’’ said a spokesman for the state-run company.
Other partners in the joint venture include China’s state-run Shanxi International Electricity Group (SIEG) with a 47-percent stake and Deutsche Bank, a global investment bank, with a 19-percent share.
KEPCO officials said the 24 power plants will have a combined capacity of 9.33 million kilowatts and the nine coal mines are expected to produce 60 million metric tons of coal a year.
Gemeng International Energy received Chinese government approval for its projects in April this year. It is the largest-ever power generation and resources development project in Shanxi in the northern part of China.
With the domestic demand for electric power nearing a saturation point, the South Korean state utility has recently been turning its eyes abroad in search of new business opportunities.
KEPCO, for example, has received orders for overseas power distribution facilities worth $15 million over the past five years, since it first began operating in other countries in September 2002.
Last month, the company set forth its mid- and long-term goal for overseas businesses as part of efforts to emerge as the top electric power company in Asia with annual sales of $4.1 billion by the year 2015.
Under the vision ``2015 Asia’s Best Value Developer in Energy Service,’’ KEPCO aims to achieve an annual overseas sales of 3.8 trillion won and an overseas power generation capacity of 10,000MW.