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Petrochemical Complex in Ulsan, South Korea South Korea’s petrochemical companies will build power plants for the first time in their history to meet their rising energy needs on a stable basis, as the global energy crunch is showing no signs of easing.The global shift toward eco-friendly products requires them to expand facilities, increasing their energy demand. Also, their electricity-generating plants will use eco-friendly fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and biomass energy to reduce carbon emissions.The move will reduce their dependence on power utility KEPCO Co., which has a monopoly on power transmission and distribution, while cutting their energy costs.SK Chemicals Co., a producer of chemical materials and healthcare products, is preparing to build its first LNG plant as it is expanding its production of eco-friendly products. It will set a date for the groundbreaking ceremony at a board meeting next month, according to industry sources on Wednesday.The LNG plant will have a 300-megawatt capacity, enough to power 80,000 households per year. It will be built on land measuring 37,965 square meters, adjacent to its Ulsan plant, 310 km southeast of Seoul.The electricity generated from the plant will be supplied to SK Chemical’s production line of copolyester, a plastic material without environmental hormones, in the same region.Its first-ever power plant to be built will also fuel SK Gas Ltd.’s propane de-hydrogenation (PDH) plant. SK Gas is a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplier. In the PDH process, propane is dehydrogenated to propylene, which is used as fuel gas.L'Oréal S.A., the world’s largest cosmetics company and Johnson & Johnson, a US consumer health products company, are among SK Chemical’s main customers.“Stable power supply becomes more important than ever as we're accelerating efforts to achieve carbon neutrality,” said an SK Chemical official.SK Ecoplant Co., formerly SK Engineering & Construction Co., will handle the engineering, procurement and construction of the electricity plant, for which the petrochemical arm plans to spend 420 billion won ($323 million). An engineer at an LG Chem plant LG CHEM, HANWHA IMPACTLG Chem Ltd. plans to team up with GS EPS Co. to build a biomass power plant in Yeosu, 320 km south of Seoul, which will be its first power plant. Electricity and industrial steam produced from the power plant will be used at LG’s naphtha cracking center.Hanwha Impact Co., a petrochemical arm of Hanwha Group, is carrying out a feasibility study of using hydrogen as a gas turbine fuel. If it proves feasible by the first half of next year, Hanwha will build such a plant and supply the power to its petrochemical plant in Daesan, 85 km southwest of Seoul. .j-chart {font-family: 'Noto Sans KR', sans-serif; margin-top: 30px;} .j-chart-txt-div {/*margin-left: 5%;*/} .j-chart-h5 {font-size: 21px; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;} .j-chart-h6 {font-size: 15px; font-weight: 400; margin:-5px 0 20px 0} .j-chart-p {display: flex; justify-content: space-between;} .j-chart-p p {font-size: 13px; font-weight: 300; margin-bottom: 0!important; margin-top: 0px; line-height: 15px;} .j-chart-sub-p {display: flex; margin-left: 6%;} .j-chart-sub-p p {font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; color: #374140; margin-bottom: 0!important; width: 50%; text-align: center; padding-bottom: 0px;} .d-pc-none {display: none!important} .d-pc-block {display: block!important} .txt-center {text-align: center; margin-top: 50px} .j-chart .year-div-cont {display: flex; justify-content: space-between; flex-wrap: wrap;} .j-chart .year-div {width: 45%;} .j-chart .year {text-align: center; font-weight: 500; font-size: 15px; margin-top: -5px; margin-bottom: 20px;} .j-chart .d-flex {display: flex; justify-content: space-between;} .chart-flex-img {display: flex; justify-content: space-around; flex-wrap: wrap;} .chart-flex-img img {width: 100%;} @media screen and (max-width: 765px) { .j-chart-txt-div {margin-left: 0%;} .j-chart-p {display:block; } .j-chart-p p {margin-top: -6px;} .j-chart-sub-p {margin-left: 10%;} .j-chart-sub-p p {font-size: 13px; padding-bottom: 10px;} .j-chart-h5 {font-size: 22px} .txt-center {text-align: left; margin-top: 20px} .d-pc-none {display: block!important} .d-pc-block {display: none!important} .j-chart .year-div {width: 100%;} .j-chart .year-div {width: 100%;} .j-chart-h6 {font-size: 15px; font-weight: 400; margin:5px 0 20px 0} .chart-flex-img {display: block;} .chart-flex-img img {width: 80%; padding: 5px 0; text-align: center;} } South Korea’s power demand forecast Unit: gigawatt
Source: MOTIE
Graphics by Jerry Lee
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