[Market Focus] DL E&C Rises on Expectations for SMR and Carbon Capture Businesses

As of 9:50 a.m. on June 25, DL E&C's stock price on the Korea Exchange was up 9.5% from the previous closing, trading at 53,000 won. This appears to be due to heightened expectations for new businesses such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).

DL E&C officially entered the SMR business in 2022 and made a strategic investment of $20 million in 2023 in X-Energy, a leading SMR developer in the United States. X-Energy is a frontrunner in the fourth-generation non-light water SMR sector and is aiming for commercialization by 2029. In October last year, X-Energy signed a large-scale investment agreement with Amazon. Amazon plans to purchase electricity from future SMR power plants and supply it to its data centers.

Last year, DL E&C signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Norwegian nuclear power company Norsk Kjernekraft for SMR development. X-Energy is also participating in this project, which is currently in the feasibility study stage. DL E&C is expected to participate in the bidding next year to be selected as the contractor for the construction of three SMR units led by Energy Northwest, a public power company in Washington State, United States.

In 2022, DL E&C established CARBONCO, a subsidiary specializing in CCUS and eco-friendly hydrogen businesses. Recently, CARBONCO attracted attention by acquiring the technology transfer for a carbon dioxide absorbent and absorption process developed by the Clean Energy Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). This technology is known to reduce energy consumption by 40% compared to the conventional monoethanolamine (MEA) absorbent, which requires more than 3.8 GJ of energy. CARBONCO is currently building a pilot facility in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, to demonstrate the technology and plans to use this as a foundation to win plant orders and expand into overseas markets.

Previously, DL E&C announced that CARBONCO would supply CCUS technology licenses after signing a contract last year to provide design and technology licensing services for the Genesis Fertilizers plant project in Canada. This marked the first case of a Korean company exporting CCUS technology for a large-scale overseas project.