KEPCO plans to invest record-high W5.5tr this year

Korea Electric Power Corp., the nation’s largest utility company, said Thursday that it would invest a record high of 5.5 trillion won ($5.01 billion) this year in improving the safety of power generation and distribution-related facilities and in developing new growth engines in the energy sector.

The state-run KEPCO will increase investments by 54 percent in 2015 from a year ago, which is the largest investment plan in its 54-year-long history, company officials said.

Under the plan, the power giant will spend 2.1 trillion won on improving facility safety management, followed by 1.8 trillion won in settling disputes involving community members living near power-related facilities.

“More importantly, KEPCO increased investments by up to 1 trillion won in energy-related new businesses, including such sectors as smart grid, energy storage systems and renewable energy, to nurture its new growth engines,’’ an industry watcher said.

The largest investment is in line with KEPCO CEO Cho Hwan-eik’s repeated stress on the importance of new business development for the firm’s future growth, according to the officials.

At the Conference of the Electric Power Supply Industry, which was held on Jejudo Island last November, Cho said KEPCO would take a lead role in promoting up-to-date renewable energy and energy management technology. At the same venue, the power giant also unveiled a roadmap to develop its smart grid technologies as a new export item.

The state-run utility firm has also expanded partnership for new business development. Last month, KEPCO formed a partnership with KT, a leading telecommunication conglomerate, to jointly develop projects in convergent businesses for energy and telecommunication technologies.

When it comes to the outlook for KEPCO’s business performance in 2015, many experts on utility stocks remained positive, saying that the falling oil price would help KEPCO cut import costs for fuel sources used for power generation.

Hur Min-ho, a stock analyst at Shinhan Investment in Korea, forecasts the operating profit of KEPCO will rise 24 percent in 2015 to 7.2 billion won, reflecting the declining import costs.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)