The nation has entered another round of its electricity conservation drive during the period between September and November. The public energy conservation campaign has paid off, tiding over a power shortage crisis during the summer season, but the nation is still on an emergency footing against a power outage as base load power facilities are now undergoing preventive maintenance, causing uneasiness about power supply.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy declared the September-November period as the “4th Public Power Plant Construction Week,” a concept under which electricity conservation has the effect of constructing power plants, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Sept. 15, 2011 rolling blackout incident and announced a four-point action plan, dubbed “Goodness! Let’s go for it!” for autumn. 

The “4th Public Power Plant Construction Week” is designed to not only take a look at the occurrence of the rolling blackout incident, but also to make the public energy conservation campaign part of the general public’s daily life. In this regard, the four action tasks, considered to make it easy for the general public to engage in conserving energy, will be carried out until the end of November. 

A survey, conducted by Korea Energy Economics Institute, showed that the “3rd Public Power Plant Construction Week” drive that took place during August had the effect of the construction 2.5 thermal power units. This past August the unusually sultry heat wave raised the monthly average by 1.8 degrees Celsius compared to last year. A heat wave lasted from Aug. 6-10, renewing a record high of power peak load established during the summer of 2011. 

Specifically, the energy conservation drive had the effect of reducing an electricity load peak by roughly 1.37 million kW during the time between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Power consumption dropped by 186 million kWh in August, an equivalent of saving about 26.2 billion won based on the electricity unit price of 14l.36 won/kWh applied to LNG combined power units. 

The three “Public Power Plant Construction Week” campaigns conducted during the period between June and August had the effect of building three 500,000 kW-class thermal power plants. They also had the effect of holding a power peak load of 1.66 million kW, the equivalent of the combined capacity of three thermal power units in June, 620,000 kW in July, and 1.37 million kW in August. The energy conservation drives amounted to a reduction in electricity consumption by an equivalent of Jeju Island’s electricity consumption for three months, estimated at a combined 948 million kWh. The power consumption reduction figure breaks down to 587 million kWh in June, 175 million kWh in July, and 186 million kWh in August.

LESSONS FROM THE ROLLING BLACKOUT

A forum was held by the MKE at the Hoam Art Hall of Seoul National University on Sept. 20 to share lessons learned from the emergency power cut in an effort to make energy conservation scientific.

Experts discussed countermeasures that could be taken in the wake of the rolling blackout and future strategies. 

The participants took stock of steps to prevent the occurrence of similar power cuts, suggested by a joint government probe and a government power contingency crisis management task force.

Speakers from Korea Power Exchange and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) touched on steps to overhaul the system they have employed so far to prevent rolling blackout incidents. Prof. Moon Seung-il of Seoul National University, Prof. Park Jong-bae of Konkook University, and two others presented their views on the pending issues. In particular, MKE Minister Hong Suk-woo had a one-on-one discussion on the outcomes of the countermeasures, long-term future tasks and insights. 

The four-point action plan calls for asking people to use LED lights, for businessmen to adopt inverters, for housewives to favor home appliance devices in the 1st class energy efficiency category and for office workers to unplug their computers when they aren’t usng them.