Korea Western Power said Monday it will invest 250 billion won ($231.3 million) to construct three fuel cell-based electricity generation facilities.

In a recent board meeting, Kowepo, which aims to increase its renewable power generation capacity to 6.1 gigawatts by 2030 from 490 megawatts as of 2019, decided to establish three fuel cell power plants, in Iksan, North Jeolla Province; Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province; and Goryeong, North Gyeongsang Province.

The 15-megawatt plant in Iksan will cost 99.2 billion won and is set to be completed in December. In Hwaseong, where Kowepo’s 20-megawatt plant is already under construction to be finished in April, the state-run utility will invest 96.4 billion won to add additional 20 megawatts to the facility by May next year. The last project in Goryeong, worth 57.6 billion won, will break ground in May and add 9 megawatts to Kowepo’s generation capacity after its completion in April next year.

Once completed, the plants will be operated by Kowepo for 20 years and are estimated to yield annual net profits worth 3.5 billion won, 3.4 billion won and 1.8 billion won, respectively.

“Fuel cell power plants, which do not emit fine dust or greenhouse gases, can generate electricity 24/7 as they are immune to weather conditions. Compared to solar power and wind power, fuel cell power plants take up 40 times and 80 times less space, respectively,” a Kowepo official said.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)