Pilot Project

KEPCO President Jo Hwan-ik and DEWA Chief Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer shake hands after concluding a contract for pilot smart grid construction.
KEPCO President Jo Hwan-ik and DEWA Chief Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer shake hands after concluding a contract for pilot smart grid construction.

 

On Oct. 28 (local time), the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) signed an agreement worth approximately US$3 million in Dubai for a pilot smart grid construction project.

According to the agreement, the KEPCO is to set up smart grid stations including photovoltaic power generators, energy storage systems (ESSs) and integrated operating systems in the Green Garage of the DEWA. This constitutes a pilot project for the UAE’s Dubai Smart City scheme and the KEPCO’s smart grid stations are expected to be installed nationwide once the pilot project is completed well.

The DEWA is planning to build the Smart City based on smart grids by 2021 in order to contribute to national energy efficiency and reduce national power consumption. It is planning to cooperate with the KEPCO in a variety of fields of smart grid such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), ESS and distribution automation.

This is the first time that Korea exported its smart grid and city models abroad and Korea’s first Middle East market penetration in the alternative energy industry. The KEPCO is to sign more similar contracts in Kuwait, Guam, Ecuador and the like so it can be a leading player in the global smart grid market, which is estimated to reach US$20 billion in size in 2020.

The KEPCO proceeded with the Korean government’s Jeju Smart Grid Demonstration Project with a great success between 2009 and 2013. In addition, the techniques it obtained during the course of the project in Jeju were applied in late 2013 to its smart grid station located in the Guri-Namyangju office of the corporation.

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