STX Heavy Industries has won a contract to build desulfurization facilities for Korea Western Power Corp.’s thermoelectric power plant units 9 and 10 in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, company officials said. The two contracts together are worth nearly 100 billion won ($87.7 million).

STX plans to kick off its construction by delivering equipment to unit 9 this November, with a forecasted December 2016 completion date. The company will provide end-to-end engineering, procurement and construction services for the project.

The desulfurization facility sector is expected to further grow as people become more interested in environmental issues. The technologies used in these facilities remove harmful sulfur oxides released by power plants, according to the company officials.

The company tapped into the desulfurization market in 1995 with the Boryeong Thermal Power Plant unit 4. Since then it has continued with completing the Dangjin Thermal Power Plant units 5 and 6 in 2006 and supplied wet desulfurization facilities to Banwol Power Plant units 1 to 3.

With this contract, the company will gain the upper hand in the eco-friendly power plant industry as well as look forward to winning more contracts with continuous efforts on improving technologies, the officials said.

By Choi In-jeong (injeongchoi@heraldcorp.com)