Expanding Solar Power Business Overseas
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) is accelerating expansion of its solar power business in the global market.
KEPCO announced on Nov. 17 that it held a groundbreaking ceremony for a solar power project in Mexico City, Mexico on Nov. 14 (local time).
KEPCO will build solar power plants in three regions, including Sonora, northwestern Mexico, and operate them for 35 years. This is KEPCO’s first solar power plant project in Latin America and the largest-ever renewable energy development project outside Korea.
The project was originally owned by Canadian Solar. But KEPCO and Canadian resource management company Sprott took over it. KEPCO invested 47 billion won to secure a 38 percent stake in the project. KEPCO and Sprott plan to finance two-thirds of the total project cost through loans.
KEPCO plans to complete the photovoltaic power plants from June next year to February 2021. By running them for 35years, the company expects to earn a total of 280 billion won in profits.
KEPCO currently is operating solar power plants in California (235 MW), Colorado (30 MW), Guam (60 MW) in the United States and Chitose (28 MW) in Japan. In Mexico, the company is commercially running Norte II Combined Cycle Power Plant (433 MW) after completing it in December 2013.