Korea Southern Power has repatriated $100 million in investment returns from its power generation business in the United States, the first time a state-run Korean power company has brought home that much from a U.S. generation asset.
The company said on the 3rd that it recovered the $100 million generated by the Niles gas-fired combined-cycle project in Michigan. At the Aug. 14 exchange rate of 1,418.3 won to the dollar, the amount is about 141.8 billion won.
The funds came from a successful refinancing of the 1,085-megawatt Niles plant and from operating income accumulated since it began commercial operation in 2022. Korea Southern Power decided on the repatriation in June, when the weak won was weighing on the country, and finalized it in August after approval by the board and shareholders of its U.S. unit, KOSPO America.
Korea Southern Power entered the U.S. gas-fired combined-cycle market in 2018, the first among South Korea's state-run power generators. With the repatriation, the company said it has completed the full cycle of an overseas generation project, from investment and construction through operation to the recovery of returns.
The recovered funds will first go toward repaying debt at the company's headquarters. After cutting interest costs and improving its debt-to-equity ratio, Korea Southern Power plans to concentrate the resulting investment capacity on domestic renewable energy projects such as wind and solar power.
In April, the company completed an $825 million refinancing of the Trumbull gas-fired combined-cycle project in Ohio, jointly arranged by South Korean financial institutions. That deal cut financing costs by about 42.3 billion won a year.
Korea Southern Power said it intends to establish a virtuous cycle in which funds recovered from overseas projects flow into domestic renewable energy investment. In May, the company announced a medium- to long-term investment plan to build 11.2 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2040.
