The industry ministry reported the status of the US investment package to the National Assembly. The first project is confirmed as the Encinal combined-cycle gas plant in Texas, with total costs of about $22.3 billion. Eight nuclear reactors and an Alaska LNG development are under review as follow-on projects.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy briefed the National Assembly's industry committee on the 22nd on the status of investment in the United States. The first project has been confirmed as construction of the Encinal combined-cycle gas plant in Texas.
광고 문의 · 300×250The approach is staged. A 1.4-gigawatt gas turbine plant would be built first to test actual demand and economics, followed by sequential additions of higher-efficiency combined-cycle capacity totaling 4.9 gigawatts. Total project cost was reported at about $22.3 billion.
The government also reported an assessment showing returns of $43.29 billion to $45.40 billion over twenty years, enough to recover principal and interest, according to accounts of the briefing. Lawmakers countered that securing power offtakers, big technology firms among them, has to come first.
The second and third projects are not yet fixed. Eight large reactors in the United States and an Alaska liquefied natural gas development are the candidates, with plans being drawn up to reflect both governments' interests. For the reactors, the two sides are working toward six Westinghouse AP1000 units and two Korean-developed APR1400 units.
Equity and Revenue Sharing Remain Open
In the nuclear project, the size of Westinghouse's equity participation is still under negotiation, since it determines the division of design and equipment supply work and how revenues are shared. Alaska LNG, large in scale and long in payback, is undergoing a separate risk assessment.
Questions in the Assembly focused on how firm the twenty-year recovery assumption is, given that power offtake, gas prices and exchange rates are all long-term variables. The government stressed that staged expansion is itself a design for reducing that risk.
Ripples Across Industry
Power plants and reactors are industries in which equipment, construction and operations move together. If the first project breaks ground, orders could follow for Korean equipment makers and engineering firms; if it slips, the schedule of the whole investment plan slides with it.
The package is also a product of trade negotiation. Commercial assessment and diplomatic calculation are mixed in a single document, and the Assembly's scrutiny amounts to an attempt to separate the two.
