Seoul has a very low energy independence rate of 4.2% in 2013. (Energy independence rate means the energy production compared to energy consumption.) This means that most of Seoul’s electricity consumption depends on electricity produced in other regions.
After the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011, the risks of nuclear power plants is considered a serious problem. Energy Independence Village project was started as part of the “reduce one nuclear power plant” campaign.
Generally, the concept of ‘energy independence’ means that 100% of energy consumption is produced internally. However, energy independence in the energy independence village project in Seoul focuses more on energy saving activities by the voluntary participation of residents rather than energy production.
The energy independence village project is being promoted in three stages. The first stage is “power consumption saving campaign”, the second stage is “energy efficiency utilization”, and the third stage is “renewable energy production”.
Energy independent village projects are implemented in seven new towns in 2012, four new towns in 2013, and five new towns in 2014, and 15 new villages have been designated as of 2014. The goal is supporting 100 villages by 2018 and it is on going project.
The representative activities of energy independence villages are as follows. As the first step, “power consumption saving campaign,” we form a consensus among the residents about energy saving, and install and operate an energy saving center. The energy saving center displays the energy usage by each household in a graph, and confirms the energy-saving details, thereby inducing saving. There are also practice activities such as workshops, town festivals and a light-off event.
Activities for the second step is as follows. First, we diagnose the energy of individual households to analyze the causes of waste. We improve the energy efficiency by replacing the lighting with LED lighting, insulate the building with insulation paint on the exterior wall, and catching wind crevices.
In the third stage, ‘renewable energy production’, there is energy production activity by installing solar power generator. In Sibjaseong village, 3 kW residential solar power generators were installed in 21 households (38% of the total households in 2013), and 9 additional households were installed in 2014, In Saejaemi village, 10 households installed a 3kW photovoltaic generator in 2013 and in Dodeulbyeot village, also 10 households installed a 3kW photovoltaic generators in 2014.
Compared with 2012 and 2013, energy independent villages showed energy use savings of 3~14%. In the case of Sibjaseong village with the highest saving rate of 14.41%, solar power generators were installed in 21 households (38% of the target households) in 2013. In the same period, the electricity use reduction rate of Seoul was 0.6%, indicating that energy independent villages showed a relatively high energy saving rate.
※ This usecase is written based on the installing and operating manual of energy independent village of Seoul.
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