In particular, Jeju Energy Corporation, which is striving to build a ‘smart energy city hub’, a global future city model, promotes projects related to the production, transportation, distribution, and sale of new and renewable energy such as wind power and oil, gas, and coal. It was established to realize CFI 2030. We met Hwang Woo-hyeon, president of Jeju Energy Corporation.
■ The direction of CFI promotion of Jeju Energy Corporation is
Jeju Energy Corporation was established in July 2012 with the goal of creating a ‘carbon-free island, Jeju’ by 2030. According to the company’s articles of association, the company is pursuing projects in all areas of energy, including the development and expansion of new and renewable energy such as wind power and solar power, the supply of heat and gas, and the construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
First, as a new renewable energy business, a new wind power generation complex is being built, and 40 wind power plants (56.83 MW) and solar power (about 1.5 MW) are operated and managed to produce eco-friendly energy.
In addition, from the time of its establishment, we have a regional energy research center and have been conducting research projects such as floating offshore wind power and P2G demonstration projects as government-led new technology and policy research projects. It is strengthening the professional capabilities of participating companies by implementing an electric vehicle charging infrastructure construction and operation agency project.
In addition, we are continuously promoting social contribution projects such as electricity bill support for the underprivileged, school forest creation project, Green Santa volunteer activities, Corona 19 prevention goods support, and leukemia pediatric cancer treatment cost support to improve social value with Jeju residents. We are creating a voluntary sharing culture.
In particular, the Haengwon Classical Guitar Festival will be held at Jeju Energy Corporation’s CFI Future Hall in October to help the local development around the power plant and residents to enjoy art and culture.
Last July, our corporation celebrated its 9th anniversary. We had time to make a resolution together with our employees to achieve the vision of ‘a carbon-free island, achieving Jeju in a timely manner’, which was the purpose of the founding of the corporation.
For CFI 2030, we plan to expand renewable energy fields such as offshore wind power and solar power, build electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and actively participate in green hydrogen business. In addition, as Jeju Island has declared ‘Jeju, no worries about garbage,’ we will continue to discover new industries to respond to the climate crisis that take into account the minimization of waste.
In particular, a pilot project to build a smart energy city hub will be promoted to improve energy use efficiency. Through this, it is possible to achieve energy self-reliance at the village level and to reduce electricity consumption.
Jeju Energy Corporation has the title of Korea’s first public energy company. As such, we will focus on the achievement of ‘CFI 2030’ and lead the 4th industrial revolution in Korea and the world.
■ The reason for introducing P2G technology
In Jeju, power demand and supply imbalances caused by volatile renewable energy and power system conditions are limiting the output of wind power and solar power generation. In 2020, there were 77 output restrictions in wind power generation, and the resulting power loss is estimated to be 19GWh. This is an increase of about 6.5 GWh from 2019, and in 2030, the target year of the CFI, it is expected to increase by about 57 times from the 2020s to 1,079 GWh. This year, for the first time, voluntary output control of solar power plants owned by local governments and public institutions in Jeju Island was started, and the output restrictions of solar power plants are also expected to continue to increase in the future.
Green hydrogen, which produces hydrogen by electrolyzing water with electricity produced from renewable energy, is emerging as a way to solve such unutilized power. In particular, the model that produces, stores, and utilizes hydrogen by electrolyzing water without stopping wind power generation in Jeju, where there is a lot of wind, does not have to stop the wind power generator forcibly and has the advantage of not emitting greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide during hydrogen production.
To this end, as a public company specializing in energy in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, we have come up with a plan to solve the unutilized power and promote the 3MW class green hydrogen production and storage system technology development demonstration project to achieve the CFI 2030 plan called ‘carbon-free island’.
■ We are planning to expand to P2H business starting with P2G.
As Jeju Island is recognized as a tourist destination and citrus cultivation area, there are many large accommodation facilities such as hotels and resorts, and facility houses that grow subtropical crops such as tangerines. In other words, the demand for thermal energy used here is quite high, and currently most of them are supplied with petroleum and gas that emit a lot of carbon. If this is converted into P2H, which supplies unused electricity as heat, it will be possible to catch two rabbits: reducing carbon dioxide and promoting the supply of renewable energy.
P2H, which is suitable for the characteristics of heat demand in Jeju Island, is one of the essential steps to make Jeju Island into a CFI. To this end, we are planning a P2H project to supply heat pumps, etc. in cooperation with institutions, schools, and companies that consume heat energy in the region.
■ P2H application and the role of Korea Energy Corporation
Based on the P2G, which is currently being successfully promoted, the P2H business will be promoted in earnest and the sector coupling represented by Power-to-X (P2X) will be expanded. Sector coupling is a system that converts electric power into other forms of energy, uses and stores it. In 2018, our corporation has already successfully demonstrated a system that stores electric power produced by solar power in an energy storage system (ESS) and then charges an electric vehicle. We are building and operating a renewable energy convergence EV charging station. This year, it plans to expand the scale together with private companies and build two additional locations.
Jeju Energy Corporation plans to develop more unutilized power sources in the future, build an integrated operating system that oversees renewable energy and sector coupling, and ultimately play a leading role in making Jeju a smart energy city.
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