(Ulsan = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Young-eun = Korea East-West Power held the 'Integrated Power Plant (VPP) Insight Conference 2026' with the Korea Smart Grid Association at the Lotte Hotel in Ulsan on the 9th.
The event was prepared to diagnose the current status of the integrated power plant industry in response to the expansion of renewable energy and changes in the power market and to explore ways to cooperate with industry, academia, and research.
About 100 people from industry, academia, and research institutes, including the integrated power plant industry, related organizations, and university students, attended the event.
Starting with a greeting from Korea East-West Power President Kwon Myung-ho and a congratulatory address from Korea Smart Grid Association Vice President Jang Jae-won, the event proceeded with three topic presentations and an expert discussion.
In the topic presentation, Dr. Jae-gyun Ahn of the Korea Energy Economics Institute presented the flow of domestic and overseas integrated power plant conversion and institutional tasks, and Director Han-woo Lee of Ulsan Techno Park presented the local production system based on distributed energy specialized areas and the direction for establishing a foundation for integrated regional energy operation.
Next, Korea East-West Power announced its distributed resource integrated operation capabilities and future expansion plans under the theme of 'The role of East-West Power in the integrated power plant industry and market.'
Korea East-West Power operates a total of 851.2 megawatts (MW) of distributed resources at 378 locations across the country based on its self-developed integrated operating system (E-Max).
We have accumulated operational capabilities across the entire integrated power plant business, from power generation forecasting to power brokerage and demand management.
In addition, they shared their plan to build an 'Ulsan area integrated power plant' that integrates control of power generation, storage, and demand resources by using energy storage systems (ESS) as a core flexibility resource.
We plan to reduce transmission burden and output control by consuming locally produced electricity within the region, and support direct transactions and 100% renewable energy use (RE100) by companies in industrial complexes.
In the expert discussion that followed, Gachon University Professor Son Seong-yong took the chair, and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) Professor Kim Jin-ho, Korea Power Exchange President Shin Ki-jun, and Incord Vice President Lee Hyo-seop participated to discuss ways to secure power system flexibility, establish a regional distributed energy utilization system, and expand the integrated power plant ecosystem.
Kwon Myeong-ho, President of Korea East-West Power, said, "With the expansion of renewable energy, the ability to flexibly respond to the grid by combining scattered resources is becoming more important. Based on preemptive verification and sharing of operational data, we will expand the regional integrated power plant model verified in Ulsan to other regions and grow together with various companies."
