Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) CEO Kim Dong-cheol, left, poses with Petrovietnam CEO Le Ngoc Son, right, after signing a memorandum of understanding on nuclear power plants in the presence of President Lee Jae Myung and Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam, third from left, at Vietnam’s Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Wednesday. Courtesy of KEPCO
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) is pushing into Vietnam’s energy market, signing a series of agreements on nuclear development and power infrastructure with local energy companies.
Company CEO Kim Dong-cheol visited Vietnam from Tuesday through Friday to meet with Vietnam’s senior government officials and state-owned energy executives, discussing areas for cooperation for a strategic push into the country’s power market.
On the sidelines of a summit between the two countries’ leaders in Hanoi, Wednesday, KEPCO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the state-owned Vietnamese oil and gas group Petrovietnam for their potential nuclear power development cooperation.
The agreement builds on the two sides' previous MOU on nuclear workforce development, signed during Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Korea in August last year. The deals are expected to serve as a catalyst for deeper collaboration on future nuclear plant construction projects between the two sides.
Also on Wednesday, the companies signed a separate four-party MOU with the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Korea Trade Insurance Corp. to examine financing options for nuclear power projects, laying the groundwork for securing funding.
“This series of MOUs marks an important milestone for KEPCO in pursuing comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam across the power industry, including nuclear energy,” Kim said. “We will continue to deepen partnerships with Vietnamese power companies and deliver tangible results.”
During the Korea-Vietnam business forum on Thursday, KEPCO signed another MOU with another public power company, Vietnam Electricity, to expand cooperation on power infrastructure.
The agreement covers cooperation in a wide range of areas, including high-voltage direct current transmission, alternating current grid development and operation and next-generation energy technologies such as intelligent digital power plants and battery management systems, along with investments in battery energy storage systems.
The two sides will use the partnership to expand practical collaboration across the entire power infrastructure value chain, KEPCO said.
Source: Korea Times News
