Korea South-East Power (KOEN) won six projects in the government's research and development (R&D) support program competition in the first half of this year, securing approximately 46 billion won in government funding.
KOEN said Wednesday that it applied for a total of 10 projects in the government's R&D project competition for the first half of 2026, of which six were finally selected. Some programs were as competitive as more than 15 to 1, but KOEN recorded a high selection rate by presenting differentiated research plans jointly with universities, companies and state research institutes, with the KOEN Research Institute taking the lead.
The selected projects span core areas of the future energy industry, including circular resources, artificial intelligence (AI) and renewable energy. KOEN plans to use this selection as a springboard to begin securing the foundational technologies needed to build a next-generation energy ecosystem.
The company is concentrating its capabilities particularly on resolving the power supply volatility problem that has emerged from the expanding share of renewable energy. KOEN aims to develop long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies, including Carnot battery thermal storage systems and air liquefaction-based energy storage systems (ESS), to enhance power grid stability and take the lead in related fields.
The company is also accelerating efforts to find future growth engines. KOEN is pursuing a project to build a high-efficiency AI data center on idle land at a coal-fired power plant, while planning to launch joint research with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and others to secure technology linked to small modular reactors (SMR), which are emerging as a next-generation energy source.
"Based on these achievements, we will work even harder to find R&D projects that create future growth engines," said Cho Young-hyuk, acting president of Korea South-East Power. "We will continue to enhance our competitiveness through relentless technological innovation, even amid a rapidly changing energy environment."
