Korea East-West Power to Promote Solar Project in Australia with Korean Financial Firms

Pyo Young-joon (center), head of Korea East-West Power’s business division poses with Pyeon Chung-hyun (left), head of Hana Financial Investment’s IB2 Group, and Lee Chang-seok, vice president of Samchully Asset Management, after signing a joint development agreement (JDA) on a solar power project in Australia at the headquarters of Hana Financial Investment in Seoul on May 28.

Korea East-West Power announced on May 28 that it has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with Hana Financial Investment and Samchully Asset Management to promote a large-scale solar power project in Queensland, Australia.

Australia is rich in solar and wind power resources. The nation’s conversion from fossil energy to new and renewable energy is fast progressing as the unit price of renewable energy has achieved “grid parity,” where the unit price of new and renewable energy is lower than that of thermal power generation energy.

Under the agreement, the three companies will build a solar power generation facility with a capacity of 202 MW in Australia’s Columbula, about 300 kilometers west of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland.

Along with equity investment in the project, Korea East-West Power will provide construction management and operation services, and help Korean manufacturers of equipment including transformers advance into Australia.

Korea East-West Power is expanding its overseas business, with the focus on eco-friendly power generation projects such as renewable energy and gas combined power plants, under a management goal to expand its overseas power generation facilities to 2.1 GW and boost overseas sales to 10 percent of its total sales by 2030.