State utility firm supports Northeast power grid project

By Lim Chang-won Posted : November 2, 2017, 14:24 Updated : November 2, 2017, 14:24

[Courtesy of KEPCO]



The head of South Korea's utility company, KEPCO, supported President Moon Jae-in's initiative to set up a Northeast Asia power grid that would also encompass Japan, China and Russia.

At the third Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on September 7, Moon called for the construction of a super grid through cooperation with Russia to enhance energy cooperation as part of his proposal to establish an economic community in Northeast Asia.

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) CEO Cho Hwan-eik said his company has already carried out a feasibility study on a Northeast Asia power grid involving South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

"We have concluded that it is feasible economically and technologically," Cho said, adding such a project would help ease political tensions in the region.

For "fundamental progress, however, there should be consultations first between the governments of countries concerned, he said on the sidelines of the Bitgaram International Expo of Electric Power Technology (BIXPO), a power industry exhibition hosted by KEPCO.

KEPCO has already held consultations on a demonstration project to link an electricity grid with China's State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), Japan's SoftBank and Mongolia's energy development company Newcom. It is aimed at building a 2-gigawatt complex that can produce solar and wind power in Mongolia and a seabed power grid connecting the three nations.


 
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