GS EPS Co., a South Korean utility firm, announced Friday the completion of a power plant that consumes agricultural byproducts for power generation just southwest of the capital.

The company has spent 300 billion won ($254 million) over the past three years on building the biomass plant in Dangjin, some 110 kilometers south of Seoul, claiming it is the largest of its kind in Asia.

The plant is around 80 percent fueled by palm kernel shells.

The plant generates up to 105 megawatts of electricity, the largest capacity among the country's plants powered by renewable energy. The amount is equivalent to the power used by 110,000 people.

Renewable energy refers to energy that comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which can be replenished through natural processes.

GS EPS is the country's first private utility firm that operates three LNG power plants and a fuel-cell power plant in the country. (Yonhap)