GS EPS opens Asia's largest biomass plant

GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, center, and Hur Dong-soo, fifth from right, GS Caltex chairman, pose along with other company executives during a tape cutting ceremony for a newly completed GS EPS biomass power plant, in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, Friday. / Courtesy of GS Group

By Park Jin-hai

GS EPS, a utility affiliate of GS Group, announced Friday that it has completed Asia’s largest biomass power plant in South Chungcheong Province.

The utility firm spent three years building the plant in Dangjin, some 110 kilometers south of Seoul, at a cost of 300 billion won ($254 million).

Biomass plants consume agricultural byproducts for power generation and have emerged as next generation renewable power plants.

“To become a top-tier global company, we need creative strategies, rather than imitation, which will enable us to innovate ahead of others. Developing new products and technologies is important, but equally important is converging new ideas and existing products to make wholly new ones,” said GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, during a ceremony to mark the completion of the plant attended by 150 company executives.

“Through the operation of Asia’s largest biomass power plant, GS EPS will accumulate know-how and technology, and make inroads into the global power market,” he added.

The 105 megawatt plant, fueled by palm kernel shells, can supply enough electricity per hour for 110,000 people to use.

It is the largest capacity among the country's plants powered by renewable energy, helping provide a stable supply of electricity.

“Of the four biomass power plants in operation here, including Korea East-West Power and Korea Midland Power, we are the only one that has an over 100 megawatt capacity,” said a company spokesman.

The new plant can also help the company, meeting the mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) the government has implemented.

From 2012, the RPS requires power producers with a capacity greater than 500 megawatts to generate 2 percent of their total power from renewable energy sources and raise it to 10 percent by 2022.

“With the electricity, generated from the new facility, we can earn enough credits to receive a renewable energy certificate, and also trade extra electricity to others on the market,” the spokesman added.

GS EPS is the country's first private utility firm and operates three LNG power plants and a fuel-cell power plant.

In China, the company began operating a 30 megawatt biomass power plant in Shandong Province in 2012.