Chairman Park Jeongwon of Doosan Hosts Event in Czech Republic to Support Nuclear Power Plant Project Orders, Aims to Kickstart Overseas Orders Within 15 Years.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) recently submitted its final bid to participate in the new nuclear power plant construction project in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile Chairman Park Jeongwon of Doosan Group personally presided over the event in Prague, Czech Republic on the 13th to support winning the nuclear power plant project and committed his efforts into winning the order. On this day, many Korean and Czech government and corporate officials attended the ‘Doosan Partnership Day’ held at the historic Zofin Palace in downtown Prague.

▲Doosan Group’s Chairman Park Jeongwon takes a commemorative photo with Korean-Czech government and corporate officials at the ‘Doosan Partnership Day’ event held in Prague, Czech Republic on the 13th to support winning the Dukovany nuclear power plant project. From the left, Korean Ambassador to the Czech Republic Hong Young-ki, Deputy Director-General Tomáš Ehler of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Vice Chairman Scott Park of Doosan Bobcat, Deputy Minister Petr Třešňak of Trade, Industry & Energy, Chairman Park Jeongwon of Doosan Group, Vice Chairman Jung Yeon-in of Doosan Enerbility, CPIA Chairman Milan Šimonovský, and Nuclear Industry Policy Director Ahn Sei-jin of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Export Business Division Head Park In-sik of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

Doosan Group has taken the lead in developing the Czech energy and machinery industries and contributing to the local community through its subsidiaries located in the Czech Republic, including Doosan Skoda Power and Doosan Bobcat EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

The event was staged to establish an opportunity to strengthen business cooperation, including in the nuclear power plant field, with about 100 companies, including the Czech government, financial institutions, and local companies. There were about 300 Czech government officials, local financial institutions, and partner companies were in attendance, including former Prime Minister Jan Fischer, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry & Energy Petr Třešňak, and Deputy Director-General Tomáš Ehler of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy. From South Korea, Korean Ambassador to the Czech Republic Hong Youngki, Nuclear Industry Policy Director Ahn Seijin of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Export Business Division Head Park Insik of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Vice Chairman Jung Yeonin of Doosan Enerbility, and Vice Chairman Scott Park of Doosan Bobcat, were present.

Additionally, reporters from about 30 Czech media outlets, including national broadcaster Czech TV, Czech Radio, and CTK news agency, were present at the event venue. During a press conference and separate interviews staged, the journalists/correspondents spoke with officials from Doosan Enerbility and Doosan Skoda Power and showed keen interest in the event by asking targeted questions about the unfolding plans to strengthen partnerships with Czech companies, transfer generator and carbon-free power generation technology, and jointly participate in the SMR project of Doosan Skoda Power. Among these Czech media outlets, eight of them directly visited the nuclear power plant and turbine plant at Doosan Enerbility’s Changwon head office in late April and featured the sites on their news coverage.

On this day, Doosan announced that it plans to strengthen the partnership between Korea and the Czech Republic, contingent on KHNP winning the Czech nuclear power plant project, by having Doosan Enerbility supply the core main equipment of the primary system, such as reactors and steam generators, and Doosan Skoda Power, a Czech subsidiary, supply the key main equipment of the secondary system, such as steam turbines. In addition, Doosan Enerbility unveiled its plan to provide carbon-free power generation technologies such as hydrogen and gas turbines to Doosan Skoda Power to help the Czech Republic emerge as a vanguard base for carbon-free power generation in Europe.

Subsequently, at the event on this day, Doosan Enerbility signed a business agreement (MOU) with local power generation equipment makers/suppliers, such as Skoda JS, MICO, Vitkovice, and ZAT, to cooperate in the supply of main and auxiliary equipment for nuclear power plants on the premise of winning orders for the Czech nuclear power plant project.

Chairman Park Jeongwon of Doosan Group underscored, “Based on the experience and prowess of successfully supplying main equipment to the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the UAE, marking our first overseas export, we are committing our best efforts to win orders for overseas nuclear power plants, which are being kickstarting again after 15 years.” and pointed out, “Doosan has maintained close cooperation with partnering companies in the energy and machinery industries, as well as the Czech government for a long time, and will not spare any investment and support so that we can grow together in the future.”

On the 14th, the day after the event, Chairman Park Jeongwon visited Doosan Skoda Power, which will be tasked with manufacturing and supplying the main equipment contingent on winning the Czech nuclear power plant order, and inspected the production site. Doosan Skoda Power, established in 1869 and boasting a history of over 150 years, is a specialized turbine manufacturer that produces steam turbines for nuclear power plants, and has been expanding its business domains beyond Europe to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa since its affiliation with Doosan in 2009.

Doosan Skoda Power has been contributing to the development of the local community through activities such as training professional technicians in the city of Pilseň, where its office and worksite is located. In particular, it operates a vocational training center for high school students and a thesis contest for college students with the aim of providing students as the future leaders of Czech society with technology experience and research activities catering to each student’s level.

▲Doosan Group’s Chairman Park Jeongwon visits Doosan Skoda Power located in Pilseň, Czech Republic and tours the production site of steam turbines, a core main equipment of nuclear power plants.

Then, Chairman Park Jeongwon visited the Doosan Bobcat EMEA office and worksite, which is located in the Czech Republic and covers Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and inspected the current status. Doosan Bobcat EMEA has a factory and regional head office in Dobris, Czech Republic, producing small and medium-sized loaders and excavators. This worksite also exerts concerted efforts to publicize its business performance nationwide and actively participate in social contribution activities for regional development in order to win orders for a new nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic.

Doosan Bobcat EMEA has continued to expand its business facilities by establishing a new R&D center, training center, and logistics center in 2014. The amount invested over the past 10 years to introduce new facilities and increase production sums to CZK 2.5 billion (about KRW 146 billion). Doosan Bobcat is dedicated to developing cutting-edge electric equipment tailored to the European market, including successfully mass-producing the industry’s first 1-ton electric excavator at its Czech plant, which is capable of 100% in-house functions from product design, prototyping to production.