[단독]”Overestimation of economic feasibility” Self-audit of 7.4 billion won KHNP solar

It was criticized that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power had overestimated its economic feasibility, and decided to conduct an audit for its own solar power project. This is the Boseonggang solar power plant. It is the first place directly operated by KHNP. In accordance with the government’s new and renewable energy expansion policy, KHNP bought and operates a solar power plant operated by a private company in the form of a’business acquisition’ in October 2018.

According to the response data submitted by KHNP to the Office of the People’s Power of the People’s Power Yoon Young-seok on the 6th, KHNP announced that it will be conducting an audit of the economic feasibility of taking over the solar power from the Boseong River from the 11th to the 22nd. Han Suwon explained the background of the audit, saying, “We acquired the Boseong River solar power business through a legal acquisition process, but we are conducting our own audit to resolve the suspicion as suspicions are raised in the evaluation of economic feasibility.”

There are four major audit targets. First of all, the actual power generation time (3.32 hours) in 2019 was shorter than the average daily power generation time (3.84 hours) predicted at the time of the acquisition (2018), which inflated economic feasibility. For solar power whose generation amount varies depending on the weather, the average power generation time per day is important in evaluating the economic feasibility. KHNP announced that it predicted the power generation time based on the daily average power generation time of 18 solar power plants in the Jeollanam-do region in the’Project Deliberation Report’ made when it took over the PV of the Boseong River in 2018. The reason was that there were no other solar power facilities in the Boseong River area, so there was no number to compare.

Based on this, it acquired two solar power plants in the 1 ㎿ Boseong River (1.94 billion won each) and two energy storage devices (ESS) of 3 ㎿ h (1.7 billion won each) for 7.42 billion won. However, analyzing the operating performance over the past year in 2019 showed that the development time was shorter than the forecast. That means that the equipment was bought at a high price. In response, Han Suwon explained, “This is because the amount of sunlight in 2019 fell to 89.83% compared to 2017 and 2018 due to a long heavy rain and typhoon.”

It is also subject to audit that the fixed costs such as the power plant site rental fee and facility operation consignment cost are excessively high, and that a disadvantageous contract was signed. In particular, it will be confirmed whether these costs were considered in the economic evaluation.

As KHNP acquired a private solar power plant that had already been operated, it took a method of renting the power plant site for 25 years without buying it. In order to buy the site, the acquisition price had to be calculated, which was the reason that the appraisal “takes a long time”. The condition was that KHNP would self-demolition after the lease of the solar power facility was finished. In addition, the operation and maintenance of facilities was left to an outside company that originally managed this power plant.

As such, KHNP pays a fixed amount of land rental costs (30 million won) and operation and maintenance costs (46.64 million won) every year. If you add the facility depreciation costs (37.75 million won) and insurance premiums (44.2 million won) that must be removed after the lease ends, the fixed cost alone is 496.46 million won. It is about 72% of the annual sales (685.52 million won) earned from solar power generation last year. However, KHNP’s position is that “when analyzing economic feasibility, fixed cost items such as rental, maintenance, and electricity were already reflected, and in fact, last year, net profit was also achieved.”

Another problem was that the Boseonggang solar module was made in China. Korea’s public power generation company raises the question, “Is it possible to conduct power generation projects with foreign modules?” KHNP also admitted that the Boseonggang solar power plant is using Chinese-made modules. However, after the acquisition of the Boseonggang Power Plant, he said, “The use of Chinese-made modules is excluded.”

Rep. Yoon Young-suk said, “It has already been revealed that KHNP bought a solar power plant at a high price based on a foolish economic evaluation.” did. The results of the audit will be announced within 45 days after the 22nd day the audit ends.

Sejong = Reporter Kim Namjun [email protected]