SK E&S-Korea Midland Power to Jointly Promote Yongin Semiconductor Cluster District Energy Project

Expected Contribution to Energy Efficiency and Semiconductor Cost Competitiveness Improvement through District Energy

SK E&S and Korea Midland Power will jointly promote a district energy project that simultaneously produces electricity and heat within the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. The plan aims to contribute to securing the competitiveness of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, one of the nation's core industrial facilities, through stable power supply and economical heat production. District energy refers to a distributed energy business that builds combined heat and power plants near demand sites to simultaneously produce and supply electricity and heat.

Korea Midland Power and SK E&S announced on the 5th that they signed a memorandum of understanding on the 4th to jointly promote the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster district energy project. According to this agreement, the two companies will cooperate to obtain the district energy business permit and promote the construction of a power plant within the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. By replacing existing aging thermal power plants, they plan to alleviate the burden of increasing new LNG (liquefied natural gas) power plants and provide stable electricity and heat to the Yongin semiconductor industrial complex through a highly efficient district energy project.

Until now, the need for economical heat supply has emerged to foster national strategic industries such as the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, but considering the overall national power supply and demand situation, it was difficult to newly construct large-scale district energy facilities. Under the support of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the two companies will promote a project linked to the replacement construction of Korea Midland Power’s aging LNG power plants, enabling both stable power supply management and semiconductor competitiveness.

This district energy project is expected to greatly contribute to securing the competitiveness of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. Stable heat supply is essential to maintain a constant temperature and humidity 24 hours a day in semiconductor production processes. Compared to installing individual boilers, district energy facilities can provide stable heat supply at a lower cost. Since the heat generated during electricity production is not wasted but recycled for steam and hot water production, energy utilization efficiency is high. Additionally, having district energy facilities within the industrial complex reduces the burden of constructing large-scale transmission facilities while enabling stable power supply.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.