Korea Electric Power Corp. said Thursday that it had acquired the Philippines’ Naga Power Plant Complex in Cebu through joint venture KEPCO-SPC for $26 million.

KEPCO SPC, 40 percent of which is owned by KEPCO and the rest by Cebu-based Salcon Power, purchased the complex from the Philippine’s state-run National Power Corp.

The Korean power company won the bid over Aboitiz Group for the complex, consisting of two thermal power plants and a diesel-fired power plant using a combination of coal, bunker oil and diesel.

KEPCO plans to refurbish the Naga plant and generate synergy with its coal-fired plant located just across the street.

“The plant is a bit old. We will renovate it into a more environmentally-friendly 300 megawatt circulating fluidized bed combustion facility,” said Chung Young-kwon, a KEPCO spokesman.

The Korean company, the Philippines’ fourth-largest power producer, seeks to boost overseas sales to account for 20 percent of the total by 2020 with the Naga deal, up from the current 6 percent.

(baejisook@heraldcorp.com)