Ulsan City Says It Won’t Miss Out on Unified Headquarters of State-Run Power Companies, Voices Confidence in Bid

【Financial News, Ulsan = Choi Soo-sang, reporter】 Ulsan City has officially declared its bid to host the unified headquarters of “Korea Power” (tentative name), a consolidated corporation formed by five state-run power companies. At a media briefing on the 14th, Ulsan Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs Shin Min-sik announced the city’s case for hosting the headquarters and its plans going forward.
The government launched the committee to prepare for the integration of the state-run power companies last September, and plans to establish a special law on the integration this coming December before launching the consolidated corporation on October 1 next year. The corporation’s headquarters will serve as the control tower for the national power industry.
Ulsan City presented the following advantages as a location for the unified headquarters.
First, the city emphasized that it is ideally positioned to realize energy transition policies, with the country’s largest floating offshore wind farm complex and a hydrogen ecosystem. It said that the concentration of key institutions, including Korea East-West Power (EWP), Korea National Oil Corporation and the Korea Energy Economics Institute, along with global energy companies, would maximize investment in energy R&D and the system for technology demonstration.
The city also highlighted the national advanced industrial supply chain and power stability. It said that the concentration of key industries such as automobiles, shipbuilding and petrochemicals, as well as AI data centers, would enable an immediate response to imbalances in electricity supply and demand and help ensure the national advanced industrial supply chain and power stability.
It also emphasized Ulsan as a place where next-generation energy infrastructure comes together. The city said it could complete a successful model of a “just energy transition” from a system centered on conventional oil and thermal power to one focused on carbon-free and renewable energy, and that Ulsan is ideally placed as a national option for strengthening energy security and boosting global energy competitiveness.
Deputy Mayor Shin said, however, that securing the headquarters would not necessarily be easy. With several local governments competing to host it, Ulsan City assessed that the conditions for its bid were challenging because of the intertwined interests involved, including power plant locations, facility capacity and union sentiment.
Ulsan City’s strategy is therefore to pursue a tailored bid. This month, Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook plans to visit Korea East-West Power’s power plants, hear from management and workers, and explore ways to cooperate. The city also plans to coordinate with the Ulsan Metropolitan Council and local lawmakers who have raised the need for the bid during parliamentary audits, and to present the case for hosting to the government and the National Assembly.
Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs Shin Min-sik said, “We will bring together the region’s capabilities to achieve tangible results, ensuring that its industrial strengths and case for hosting are reflected before the government announces the location of the headquarters.”
 
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