Korea, U.S. Seeks to Jointly Usher in Smart Grid Era

Ink an SOI to promote cooperate in the energy sector

Korea and the United States have signed a deal to jointly develop the "Smart Grid,"a next-generation power grid based on information technology. Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy Lee Youn-ho, who accompanied President Lee Myung-bak on a state visit to the United States, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu concluded a comprehensive Statement of Intent (SOI) to promote cooperation in the energy sector, including the so-called Smart Grid, on June 15 in Washington.
If the two countries take the lead in setting global standards on Smart Grid technologies by capitalizing on a combination of U.S. advanced protocol technology and Korea's application and commercialization capability, they are forecast to control the upcoming global Smart Grid market whose size could grow to at least 100 trillion won by 2030, industry analysts said.
On the same day, Korean member companies of the Korea Smart Grid Association (KSGA) and their U.S. counterparts of the GridWise Alliance held the first Korean-U.S. Smart Grid Investment Forum at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington and declared across-the-board collaboration on technology development and investments. In particular, the signing of an MOU among Korean and U.S. private sectors, held on the sidelines of the Korea-U.S. summit talks was seen as the building of the largest international cooperation network on the Smart Grid following the establishment of its definition. The KSGA consists of about 30 companies, including Korea Electric Power Corp. LS Industrial Systems, Hyundai Heavy Industries, KT, and SK Telecom. Google, IBM, General Electric and electric utilities make up the GridWise Alliance.
According to the SOI, the two countries are expected to hold the Korea-U.S. working-level energy consulting talks to discuss such issues as the development of such areas as geothermal power generation, methane hydrate, nuclear power, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Smart Grid as well as standard cooperation.
A Smart Grid is a next-generation, intelligent electricity network that connects an energy network and a communications network by grafting to it information technology. The Smart Grid market is predicted to see its revenues surging by an estimated $200 billion yearly after 2015.
The United States has been quick to scramble for the control of the future Smart Grid market as U.S. President Barack Obama is picking up the Smart Grid as one of his economic stimulus packages, and the U.S. Congress approved a bill to invest $4.5 billion in this sector.
Following the SOI signed between the Korean and U.S. governments, Korean and U.S. companies are expected to accelerate their collaboration in the Smart Grid sector.
Smart grids have a limitless potential for development, and they could become Korea's mainstay exporting products as semiconductors and mobile phones now are, MKE officials said. By working together, the two countries could set the pace in terms of global standards and become standard-bearers in this field that can permit the export of related products and operating systems, they said. Smart grids can also help the country nourish the renewable energy industry so that hybrid or plug-in electric cars that require detailed monitoring of power quality can make their debut.
Korean government officials expect the Korea-U.S. win-win strategy to agree on the establishment of a test-bed on Jeju Island.
A proposal on the establishment of the test-bed on the island, designed to bridge U.S.'s original technology and Korea's commercialization capability was made during the Korea-U.S. Smart Grid Investment Forum, they said.
On top of Korea and the United States, the European Union, China and Australia are also scrambling for the development of their own systems in the future.
The Jeju test-bed selected recently will be the first of its kind to experiment most systems related to operations of Smart Grids.
If the development of the Smart Grids is successful, it could help increase the percentage of green energy in the country from 2.4 percent of the total power produced at present to 11 percent in the next two decades. It can reduce carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming by 41 million tons, fuel domestic production by 68 trillion won ($53US billion) by 2030 and create 500,000 new jobs, the MKE said. nw

Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy Lee Youn-ho shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu after they signed a comprehensive Statement of Intent (SOI) to promote cooperation in the energy sector, including the Smart Grid, on June 15 in Washington D.C.