The 345kilovolt (kV) North Dangjin-Shintangjeong transmission line, which holds the record for the longest-delayed power grid project in South Korea due to a 12-year-and-6-month delay in completion, has officially started supplying power ahead of its formal completion next month. Contact online >>
The 345kilovolt (kV) North Dangjin-Shintangjeong transmission line, which holds the record for the longest-delayed power grid project in South Korea due to a 12-year-and-6-month delay in completion, has officially started supplying power ahead of its formal completion next month.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) on Nov. 28, the 345kV North Dangjin-Shintangjeong transmission line began operating on Nov. 22 and is set for formal completion next month. Initially planned for completion in June 2012, the project faced significant delays due to fierce opposition from local residents, marking it as a representative case of conflicts surrounding power grid infrastructure.
With the activation of the North Dangjin-Shintangjeong transmission line, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) expects to supply 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of power to the West Coast region, alleviating significant power generation constraints. Additionally, the new line is projected to reduce annual power purchase costs by approximately 350 billion won (approximately $250.75 million). This development is also expected to accelerate investments in next-generation display technologies in the strategically designated industrial zones of Cheonan and Asan.
Lee Ok-heon, director of powerpolicy at the MOTIE, stated, “The 345kV North Dangjin-Shintangjeong transmission line exemplifies delays caused by local opposition and lack of cooperation from municipal authorities regarding permits and approvals.” He added, “If the Special Act on Power Grids is passed, a new governance model involving the central government and local governments will emerge, enabling the discovery of regionally inclusive models and a paradigm shift in ensuring public acceptance of power grids.”
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Kepco has selected GE to build a high-voltage DC energy highway.
South Korea took action this month to strengthen its grid in preparation for a major boost in renewable energy generation.
At the beginning of the month, the state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) picked U.S. infrastructure provider GE Power to build a 4-gigawatt high-voltage DC (HVDC) transmission link from the east of the country to the capital, Seoul, in the northwest.
The $320 million contract “will increase the stability and reliability of the Korean electrical transmission grid by adding new routes for power supply,” said GE Power in a press release.
The project will be delivered through KAPES, a joint venture that Kepco set up with GE in 2012 to carry out HVDC and flexible AC transmission system work in South Korea and beyond.
KAPES and GE are due to design and supply a 500-kilovolt HVDC bipole with two converter stations, including valves, cooling, converter transformers, filters, switchyards and control systems. It is GE’s fourth major HVDC contract in South Korea.
In the late 1990s, GE built a 300-megawatt, 101-kilometer (63-mile) point-to-point submarine HVDC interconnection linking South Korea’s Jeju Island with the mainland. In 2009, the company supplied converter stations for a 400-megawatt HVDC scheme.
In 2014, through KAPES, GE built a 1.5-gigawatt, 35-kilometer HVDC connection to transmit energy from South Korea’s coal-fired Dangjin power plant to the city of Pyeongtaek and the Seoul metropolitan area. The project is due to be completed at the end of 2019.
GE said South Korea’s energy demand has grown by almost 35 percent in the last decade.
The latest HVDC project follows the December publication of a power supply plan that will see gas and renewables gradually replacing coal and nuclear in South Korea''s generation mix between 2017 and 2031.
Coal and nuclear account for more than 70 percent of the country''s electricity supply, with renewables making up just 6 percent. Wind and solar each contribute about 1 percent to the power mix today.
Under the new plan, South Korea aims to meet 20 percent of its total electricity consumption with renewable energy resources by 2030,Reuters reported.
The transition will see the coal total falling to deliver 36.1 percent of electricity supply by 2030, and nuclear covering a further 23.9 percent.
“To achieve that goal, Asia’s fourth-largest economy aims to increase its installed capacity of renewable power to 58.5 gigawatts by 2030, from 11.3 gigawatts this year,” said Reuters.
“As South Korea plans to increase the renewable power generation to 20 percent under the 8th National Electricity Plan, the grid infrastructure needs to be upgraded," said Rishab Shrestha, an analyst at GTM Research.
Large projects, generally not close to load centers, will account for around 60 percent of the capacity expansion plan. “That''s a considerable addition of variable generation to the existing grid, which is dominated by coal and nuclear at the moment,” said Shrestha.
Although it is unclear if this month’s announcement relates to the same initiative, in March last year Kepco and GE signed a memorandum of understanding on an HVDC build-out in Bitgaram Energy Valley, Naju City, near Gwangju, and South Jeolla Province, in the southwest.
“The Bitgaram Energy Valley in that region has several industrial complexes and Kepco''s headquarters around it, and is intended to be an innovative ecosystem for research,” Shrestha said.
The region also has plans to install around 1.8 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2020 and to build up to 5 gigawatts of onshore and offshore wind by 2030. “There would be synergies with electricity production and transmission to the load center in Seoul,” Shrestha observed.
Beyond keeping the lights on at home, it is likely Kepco’s interest in HVDC is driven by the potential for business overseas. The company is involved in plans to create an Asian supergrid stretching from Vladivostok and Tokyo in the east to New Delhi and Mumbai in the west.
Kepco is also a member of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization, based in Beijing, China, which is dedicated to promoting the sustainable development of energy worldwide.
However, we need a shifted energy paradigm towards giving priority to grid expansion to make that happen, as transmission lines cannot be reinforced in a short period of time. Korea''s pivoting to such activity would give its grid the ability to integrate the renewable power before supplying it to end-users. At the same time, the country needs to have a more stable grid system to deal with increased variability and reduction of system inertia. To lead this energy transition, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) is mandated to build a specific blueprint envisaging the future of Korea''s grid.
For a better system integration, KEPCO has chosen to decentralize renewable power generated at a specific site as well as excess demand concentrated on particular areas. In parallel, we are going to expand the renewable capacity in the existing grid by, for example, using dynamic line rating (DLR).
Furthermore, renewable generation requires forecast and control to attend to variability that may undermine stability of the grid system. Securing resources that can provide flexibility or inertia for the system – such as energy storage systems (ESS), pumped storage hydropower and synchronous condensers – would also help make the grid more stable.
It is becoming more challenging to reinforce the grids due to community complaints and tighter environmental regulations, while electrification is and going to continue happening in transport and industry. So KEPCO needs to focus on promoting more efficient use of the existing and newly installed facilities so as to avoid any unnecessary additional construction and on creating better public acceptance.
In Korea, highly populated mega cities demand electricity most, requiring supply from several large power stations. But the current infrastructure has some technical inconveniences: they are located along the coastline and connected to bulk power consuming areas through many transmission lines. However, almost all the local communities in between are reluctant to accept new power lines due to poor benefits from such installations. Consequently, balancing the supply and demand in each region becomes a crucial issue that must be solved preferentially.
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