The gas-fueled combined cycle power plant in the Navanakorn Industrial Zone in Pathum Thani province, Thailand. (Korea Midland Power)
Korea Midland Power Co. on March 15 completed a 110-megawatt gas-fueled combined cycle power plant in the Navanakorn Industrial Zone in Pathum Thani province, central Thailand.
This is the first time a Korean power plant operator has entered the Southeast Asian country’s soaring electric power market that has been long dominated by Japanese players.
The Thai project worth 218.1 billion won ($200 million) comes as KOMIPO, one of the six power generation subsidiaries of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., is recently seeking to expand its presence in overseas markets.
In order to get a competitive edge over Japanese companies, the Korean power supplier created a strategic alliance with local partners Navanakorn Electric and Toyo-Thai Corp., in which KOMIPO invested 16.6 million won in 2012 and currently owns a 29 percent stake.
The alliance has also secured a power supply contract with Thailand’s electricity office for the next 25 years. During the period, KOMIPO alone is expected to log 62.5 billion won in net profit and 12.5 billion won through other consultative projects, according to Korean officials.
As part of its continuing efforts for shared growth with smaller firms, KOMIPO has also teamed up with Korean manufacturers for its Thai business. The Korean power supplier has also operated an 8 megawatt solar power plant in Thailand’s Ang Thong province.
“The new project will pave the way for us to further explore new business opportunities in the burgeoning electric power market in Thailand,” said KOMIPO CEO Choi Pyeong-rak. “We will ramp up efforts to expand our presence in other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indochina.”
Currently, KOMIPO operates 660-megawatt and 1,320-megawatt coal power plants in Cirebon and Tanjung Jati in central Java, Indonesia, with another two facilities under construction in the country.
Especially, the Tanjung Jati plant was named the best-managed power plant in Indonesia in 2013 and the operator KOMIPO was awarded 3.4 billion won in incentives.
KOMIPO also plans to sign a new deal in September with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to join a maintenance project of Vietnamese power plants.
By Lee Ji-yoon (
jylee@heraldcorp.com)