By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

The Seoul administration is looking to save the consumption of hundreds of millions ofbarrels of crude oil by 2030, worth about 47 trillion won ($41 billion), through constructing a futuristic electricity network across the country.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) finalized the bold scheme, dubbed the Smart Grid Project, Monday under which a two-way digital network of electricity will be built.

"Thus far, factories or households have consumed as much electricity as they want usually at fixed prices while utilities have generated electricity to meet demand," MKE director Lee Yong-pil said.

"But the conventional one-way paradigm is shifting to an interactive one called the smart grid. Homes or corporations can use power efficiently at lower prices and utilities can decide the amount of supply with pinpoint precision," he said.

A smart grid refers to a two-way network interconnecting electricity suppliers and consumers in a sophisticated fashion geared toward tackling depleting energy resources and climate change.

The idea has been touted as one of major technologies to save the planet from the threat of various environmental problems such as greenhouse gases and the resultant global warming.

"For example, in the not-so-distant future a housewife will be able to set some of her home appliances so that they operate when power is not expensive while stopping when the price hits a pre-set level," Lee said.

"In 2030, she could save cheap power in highly efficient batteries at home to use whenever she needs. Or the batteries of electric cars might work as an alternative storage for cheap power."

From the perspective of suppliers, Lee projected that they would deliver electricity in a highly efficient way by measuring the power consumption on a real-time basis via the two-way network.

The development of cheap, efficient batteries is a minimum must for the success of the scheme. Today, they sell for millions of won but their prices are forecast to go down below 1 million won by 2030.

The government plans to spend 2.7 trillion won by 2030 in order to establish the next-generation system, expecting that the initiative will prompt private players such as utilities companies, developers of renewable energy and battery makers to invest 24.8 trillion won.

The project is predicted to create fresh demand valued at 74 trillion won and create 50,000 jobs while eliminating 230 million tons of greenhouse gases in Korea alone.

"After having tried to establish national plans on the smart grid throughout last year, we will come up with tangible results this year," Vice Minister of Knowledge Economy Kim Young-hak said in a statement.

"To support the smart grid in a full-fledged manner, we will strive to pass a special bill in the National Assembly this year," he said.

The ministry already started a pilot smart grid network late last year on Jeju Island to check its viability with the aim of finishing it by 2013.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr