The Seoul Metropolitan Government is the first government authority to register a virtual power plant and enter the Power Exchange market. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced on Wednesday that it will be installing additional virtual power plants (VPP), facilities that can generate income by selling the amount of electricity saved, in small to medium-sized buildings throughout all 25 districts.
The city plans to expand the plants’ generation capacity to 100MW by 2025. Currently, the capacity stands at 6.3MW.
VPPs save electricity during peak hours when electricity usage hikes. The saved electricity then is sold to the Korea Power Exchange for profit.
The SMG is the first government authority to register a VPP and enter the power exchange market.
So far, the city was able to save 248,323 kWh through VPPs, earning as much as 800 million won (US$672,300), and also reducing carbon emissions by 114 tons.
Seoul signed an agreement with the Seoul Energy Corporation and the Korea Demand Response Association to embark on its project to expand VPPs.
Thus far, small to medium-sized facilities at homes or small buildings have not been able to join the VPPs due to low profitability.
Now, the city plans to support their participation through joint coordination between the public and the private sector.
The SMG expects that a 100MW VPP will raise 4.4 billion won annually.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
