In the face of mounting global interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, there is an urgent need to develop and implement diverse measures. In particular, it is imperative to explore the potential of utilising waste heat from industrial processes and power generation, as this has the potential to significantly enhance energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also capturing otherwise wasted energy.

Concurrently, supercritical CO2 power generation is regarded as a prospective technology for fossil, nuclear, solar, thermal energy storage and waste heat recovery applications, attributable to its elevated thermodynamic efficiency, miniaturised plant configuration, and environmental stability. sCO2 power cycles function above the critical point of CO2 (31.1°C, 7.38 MPa) and deliver higher energy density and heat transfer performance in comparison to conventional power cycles. It is particularly effective for power generation systems using medium-temperature waste heat and has the advantage of being applicable to various industrial environments. KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) has been promoting research and development of sCO2 power cycles as a promising future technology since 2014. Following a series of feasibility studies, KEPCO aimed to construct an MW-scale sCO2 power generation system that recovers waste heat at low temperatures and has the capacity to reduce risks in the early stages of development. Additionally, the system was designed to achieve a high probability of demonstration success and initial marketability. In 2016, with the support of KEPCO, we initiated a strategic project to achieve a net output of 2MWe by recovering waste heat from engines. A suitable onshore power generation engine to output MW-scale sCO2 power output was selected as well as a partial heating sCO2 cycle to recover waste heat from the engine exhaust. A design feasibility study was also conducted. This paper provides an overview of the development of 2MW KEPCO sCO2 power system designed to recover waste heat. This paper also describes the cycle analysis results and the specifications and fabrication of major equipment (turbine, compressor, heat exchanger, etc.).