[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Korea District Heating Corporation (KDHC) announced on the 18th its plan to strengthen the competitiveness of core businesses such as eco-friendly energy improvement projects, clean cooling, and power service technology development, and to secure future growth engines.
Last year, KDHC established the '8th Medium- to Long-term Management Strategy' and announced a new slogan, 'LINK ALL KDHC! Making People Happy with Clean Energy.' It set medium- to long-term management goals to supply 2.1 million households, achieve 500 billion KRW in new business sales, score 100 points on the social value creation index, and attain the highest grade in comprehensive integrity by 2028.
First, to expand the supply of eco-friendly, high-efficiency, low-carbon district energy and to implement the government's fine dust emission reduction policy, KDHC is promoting eco-friendly energy improvement projects.
In June last year, KDHC obtained a modification business permit to replace oil fuel business sites in Daegu and Cheongju with liquefied natural gas (LNG) combined heat and power plants. They plan to proceed smoothly with follow-up procedures such as environmental impact assessments and early design commencement, aiming for completion in December 2024. KDHC expects that this improvement project will reduce air pollutant emissions by about half. They are also conducting an eco-friendly energy improvement project at the Suwon combined heat and power plant, another oil fuel business site, which is currently undergoing a preliminary feasibility study by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
KDHC is also expanding the distribution of clean cooling, a next-generation cooling system. Due to recent climate change, heatwaves and fine dust have increased, making it necessary to properly manage the high summer power load reduction effect and the increased fine dust. The clean cooling system is a district cooling system that uses heat from district heating households for cooling. It is a next-generation cooling technology that combines cooling, ventilation, dehumidification, and air purification functions. KDHC plans to pilot install the clean cooling system this year in facilities for children and the elderly within multi-family housing such as daycare centers and senior centers, as well as in public daycare centers in Goyang City.
To actively respond to the government's distributed energy activation policy, KDHC is expanding related facilities. They are also focusing on developing power service technologies and policies utilizing distributed energy. To this end, in December last year, KDHC signed a 'Distributed Energy Activation Business Agreement' with the Korea Energy Agency, Korea Southern Power, and Gachon University. They plan to strengthen cooperation with related organizations and academia to operate power-to-heat (P2H) that stores surplus renewable energy as heat for supply, combined heat and power, renewable energy, and small-scale distributed resource hybrid virtual power plants (VPPs).
A KDHC official stated, "Going forward, KDHC will strategically promote existing core businesses and future new businesses by reflecting government energy policies and internal and external management environments."
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