Hyundai Motor Co. factory in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co. is building a combined heat and power (CHP) plant fired by liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its mainstay plant in Ulsan, 414 km southeast of Seoul, to generate its own electricity.
The carmaker recently submitted plans to Ulsan’s Buk District Office, which were posted as an announcement last month, industry sources said.
It is the first time that Hyundai is building a large-scale power plant inside a car factory.
The announcement says that the construction of the power plant will be undertaken between 2022 and 2025, indicating that the plant will begin operations in 2025.
Hyundai’s Ulsan factory uses 1.29 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity and 710,000 tons of steam every year.
Thus far, state utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) has been supplying electricity to the factory. The factory has been running 15 boilers to generate steam.
Hyundai plans to build a 184-MWh power plant to replace 72 percent of its electricity from KEPCO with self-generated power.
At 59 percent, a significant portion of steam production will also be replaced.
Hyundai said it plans to improve the production efficiency of electricity and steam to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, implement the use of eco-friendly LNG fuel, stabilize utility demand and supply and reduce costs.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
