Jeju Island Smart Grid Test-Bed (Jeju - South Korea)
In 2009, the Korean Government started a smart grid demonstration project on Jeju Island, which will serve as a test-bed to assess the viability of the smart grid technology and foster its development in the future. Smart grids are electricity grids that use ICT to connect the power plant to the supply grid and to the households that consume the electricity, achieving a more efficient and reliable power supply, while also effectively dealing with the wind and solar power fluctuations. A smart grid has the potential for saving the country about $10 billion per year in energy import cost, simultaneously reducing South Korea’s CO2 emissions by 30%.
The Jeju Island smart grid project will focus on 5 themes:
- Smart Power Grid System: an intelligent and interoperable grid with automatic protection and recovery;
- Smart Place System: a communication system between a utility and its customers with automatic energy management to enhance energy efficiency;
- Smart Transportation System: a charging infrastructure for electric vehicles;
- Smart Renewable System: a renewable power generation infrastructure (from various energy sources) with large integrated power storage devices;
- Smart Electricity Service System: diverse pricing schemes and consumer power trading (new electricity services).
In the scope of theses themes, several initiatives were developed: in the Smart Place theme, rooftop solar power systems and smart energy meters were installed to allow citizens to monitor their energy consumption data in real-time; in the Smart Transportation theme, electric vehicles were deployed and battery chargers were installed; and in the Smart Renewables theme a series of wind power turbines, solar power systems, and a power storage system were installed.
As a final step in this project, South Korea is planning to build a nationwide smart grid estimated for completion by 2030.
Sources:
http://www.nuritelecom.com/news/spotlight/jeju_smart_grid.html
https://www.gsma.com/iot/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cl_jeju_09_121.pdf
Improved Energy management;
Improved Intelligent Transport Systems.
By 2030, South Korea aims to:
- Produce 11% of all energy from renewable sources;
- Eliminate around 230 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions;
- Create 50,000 jobs on an annual basis;
- Generate $64 billion worth of domestic demand for new technologies;
- Become a leader in the commercialisation of smart grid technologies.
By 2030, Jeju Island aims to:
- Become a carbon free island that generates power exclusively through renewable energy sources and that only uses electric vehicles.
Korean Government and a consortium of partners: SK Telecom, Nuri Telecom, LG Electronics, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), among many others.