Automaker to Build Landfill Power Plant

South Korea's biggest car parts maker, Hyundai Mobis, has announced it will build the world's largest landfill gas power plant in Incheon.

The plant, which will be built by 2005, will extract gas from an 20.72-million-square-meter landfill in the nation's second largest port city, just west of Seoul.

The gas power plant will use decomposition gases from the dumpsite to generate a maximum of 50 megawatts and is expected to contribute to environmental protection in the region and will set a precedence for better use of alternative sources of energy.

Hyundai Mobis said that a consortium made up of itself, state energy monopoly KEPCO, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co., and Total E&S Co. will invest US$65.8 million in the construction of the plant.

The ownership of the plant will be transferred to the Environment Ministry once construction is complete, with Eco Energy Co. to be in charge of operations for the next 11 years.

Hyundai Mobis said that 180,000 households will benefit from the electricity generated by the gas plant, with annual profits expected to reach 18.0 billion won. It will also mean that 20.0 billion won will be saved in terms of energy imports.