The steering challenge: In recent years, South Korea accelerated its deployment of renewable energy and electric vehicles. Smart scheduling is needed so supply and demand stay in balance, at low costs. The uncertainty: The weather, driving behavior as well as market prices are difficult to predict. These uncertainties all need to be incorporated in smart scheduling.
The South Korean government assigned Jeju, its largest island, as a testing ground for smart grid concepts like battery storage and demand response (for example, using electric vehicles). The island has invested heavily in wind turbines, but is facing energy waste by having to curtail production, because the capacity of power lines connecting Jeju to the mainland is limited. In a project funded by A1 Engineering, Seita developed an energy balancing platform for Jeju: a multi-user web application for managing meter data from a diverse set of assets on the island and scheduling their balancing actions. The platform allows energy companies and asset owners to monitor power consumption and production, as well as relevant weather and price data. In addition, the platform uses algorithms for machine learning and control strategies to assist human operators with forecasts and decision-making.
We will work together with A1 Engineering in South Korea and possibly with partners in other parts of the world to pilot our energy balancing platform in various circumstances.