▲ Photo by Ko Suyeon

[This article is written by a JDC Junior Journalist. The JDC Junior Journalist program is an educational project sponsored by Jeju Free International City Development Corporation (JDC). JDC Junior Journalist articles are only briefly edited by mentors before publishing.]

In our modern world, the most important thing is electricity. We use electricity for most of our lives, all the time and every where. But as our community grows, global warming is proceeding and more resources are being used. The resource that is becoming harder to produce is electricity. Until now, companies have tried to produce more electricity but the supply can not catch up with the demand. The new method to solve this problem is the Smart Grid.

Smart Grid is a system that makes the unstable supply of new & renewable energy, such as solar energy, wind energy, fuel-cell and other energies, into a stable supply. And according to the Korea Smart Grid Institute, “Smart Grid is a next generation power grid that integrates IT with the existing power network to optimize enegy efficiency through the interactive exchange of real-time information between the supplier and the consumer.”.

By using the Smart Grid, we can make a stable supply of new and renewable energy, contributing to stopping the progress of global warming.

Korea is pushing forward with the Smart Grid. Gujwa-eup on Jeju Island was selected as a test-bed for Smart Grid because of the Jeju’s clean image and because Jeju has an independent electrical grid. This project has progressed from December 2009 to May 2013. According to Jeju Smart Grid Test-Bed, in this project, there are five domains which are Smart Place, Smart Transportation, Smart Renewable, Smart Power Grid, and Smart Electricity Service.

For people to understand how and what is Smart Grid, KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) built the Smart Grid Information Center in Gujwa-eup, Jeju Island. There, people can easily learn more and understand what Smart Grid is all about.

There are some drawbacks to Smart Grid, such as the high price and the danger of information leakage. In spite of these drawbacks, it is true that the best solution to the shortage of resources is the Smart Grid.