Seogeocha Island, off the southwestern coast of South Korea. (image: LSIS Co.)
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean island off the southwestern coast will be fully powered by a low-voltage direct current (LVDC) distribution system, officials here said Monday.
LSIS Co., a major power equipment maker, and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Research Institute said they’ve successfully established a LVDC distribution network on Seogeocha Island, 24 kilometers from the mainland of South Korea.
The project, which began in 2016, was aimed at supplying DC power to remote areas and applying various LVDC technologies.
“Seogeocha Island is now the world’s biggest DC-powered island, where its generation and distribution networks are 100 percent operated with DC electricity,” an official at LSIS said.
LSIS and KEPCO said the island can generate DC electricity through solar and wind power generators.
The LVDC distribution system has improved energy efficiency 10 percent compared with existing alternating current (AC) systems, they claimed.
DC is known to have stable output and higher efficiency than AC. The latest technologies in semiconductors also allow DC to have easy voltage transformation, officials said.
LSIS and KEPCO said they plan to expand their DC power-related business, expecting increased demand from data centers and manufacturing plants that need lots of electricity.
(Yonhap)
