Korea Western Power (KOWEPO) completed the Gumi Natural Gas Power Plant at the Gumi High-tech Valley 5th Industrial Complex in North Gyeongsang province on September 16, 2026, it is reported. The plant is reported to be Korea’s first fuel conversion project, replacing the retired Taean coal-fired Unit 1.
The plant was built as a 500MW-class combined-cycle facility combining a gas turbine and steam turbine, reportedly incorporating low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) combustors. Construction began in December 2022, with first power reception in November 2024, first gas turbine ignition in September 2025, and commercial operation starting on February 20, 2026. The September 16 completion ceremony reportedly formally marked the conclusion of this construction and commissioning process.
The plant has a generating capacity of 500MW (gas turbine plus steam turbine combined cycle), with about four years elapsed from construction start to completion. KOWEPO reportedly jointly built the gas pipeline with Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), saving an estimated 200 billion won in national budget, and the plant’s operation is expected to raise Gumi city’s power self-sufficiency rate from about 6% to about 30%.
The project is the first domestic case of a fuel conversion project replacing retired coal-fired capacity with gas-fired combined-cycle generation under the government’s phased coal power phase-out policy, reportedly aimed at achieving both power grid stability and carbon emission reduction simultaneously.
Converting from coal-fired to gas-fired combined-cycle generation is a transition step frequently adopted by many countries in their path toward carbon neutrality, and this Gumi project carries symbolic significance as the first domestic case of such a fuel conversion model actually being implemented. The structure in which the power generator and gas supplier (KOGAS) jointly built pipeline infrastructure to reduce costs demonstrates an efficient collaboration model that links power plant and gas infrastructure investment to reduce redundant spending. The sharp rise in a specific region’s (Gumi’s) power self-sufficiency from about 6% to about 30% illustrates how significant an impact the completion of a single large power facility can have on a region’s power supply-demand structure. As more domestic coal-fired plants are scheduled to be retired going forward, the construction and operational experience from this Gumi project is likely to serve as a reference model for similar fuel conversion projects in the future. However, because gas-fired combined-cycle generation reduces carbon emissions relative to coal but remains fossil-fuel-based, it is often regarded as an intermediate step that will require further transition to renewable or carbon-free power sources to achieve long-term carbon neutrality goals.
As this plant’s commercial operation stabilizes — utilization rate, scheduled maintenance history, etc. — the accumulated results will likely become the benchmark for evaluating the performance of Korea’s first fuel conversion project. Whether similar fuel conversion projects will be ordered in other regions under the government’s phased coal phase-out plan is worth watching. In addition, the structure of the LNG procurement contract supplying this plant (share of long-term contracts, etc.), how fuel cost volatility affects generation costs, and the possibility of additional power sources such as renewables or hydrogen being linked to this site or nearby in the future also bear watching.