South Korea’s state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) may be able to generate power directly for the first time in 20 years, albeit restricted to renewable sources, under the government green drive.

According to the National Assembly’s bill information system on Thursday, a bill revision that would allow for-profit public companies like KEPCO to engage in renewable energy production was submitted by Song Gap-seok, a Democratic Party lawmaker.

The proposal came amid opinions in and out of the government that KEPCO is well-positioned to attract massive investments to carry out the government’s ambitious renewable energy project, according to an official from KEPCO. The revision would help it save huge costs as it doesn’t have to go through special purpose companies, he added.

Shares of KEPCO were 0.8 percent higher at 19,500 won around midday Friday.

The government has banned the state utility firm from producing and selling power at the same time since 2001 to prevent its monopoly in the energy market. It is only engaged in power transmission business with electricity bought from Korea Power Exchange, and its five subsidiaries including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) are in charge of generating electricity.

Now that the government is pushing forward with its ambitious Green New Deal initiative with 73 trillion won ($61.5 billion) budget to promote green growth, there is a high chance of KEPCO resuming power generation business in 20 years. The government aims to significantly increase solar and wind power generation from 12.7GW last year to 26.3GW by 2022 and 42.7GW by 2025.

By Baek Sang-kyung, Oh Chan-jong and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]