POSCO ICT (CEO: Choi Doo-whan) will be exporting to Canada the microgrid technology with ESS applied. This means that the microgrid construction technology verified in the home country, not a single unit of ESS, is to be exported for the first time in Korea.  

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and Power Stream, a Canadian electric company, held a MOA signing ceremony on July 13th in order to develop power distribution microgrid technology through joint investment and launch jointly the relevant business in North America. POSCO ICT will be participating in the technology development project with Energy Storage System (ESS). 

POSCO ICT concluded a contract wherein ESS with capacity of 750㎾/500㎾h will be supplied to Penetanguishene, a village in Ontario 200km north of Toronto, and power distribution microgrid is to be built there so that 500 households in the village can use electric power for 4 to 5 hours in the event power failure occurs due to the deterioration of the existing power distribution network. For most of North America including Canada, 70% of the power distribution network, which supplies electric power to consumers from the substation, is deteriorated since the network was built more than 30 years ago, resulting in frequent power failures and unstable electric power output. In order to resolve the problem, the construction of microgrid with ESS applied, rather than the replacement of the distribution network, is being pursued so that consumers may use the electric power stored in ESS in the event of an emergency situation. 

POSCO ICT also plans to push through with the power generation microgrid construction project in order to supply renewable energy such as photovoltaic, etc., to local residents and public facilities in Mahanyani, a village in Mozambique in Africa. Since Mozambique geographically runs from north to south, and the longitudinal distance is more than 2,000㎞, it is difficult to construct a nationwide transmission and distribution network. Therefore, independent electrical power networks utilizing the microgrid are needed rather than a nationwide network. 

POSCO ICT boasts of extensive experiences in on-site application, having successfully constructed the microgrid with ESS applied in Palgeumdo Island, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do last year. In connection with the entry into the Canadian market, officials of Power Stream visited Palgeumdo Island in order to check the operation condition of the microgrid on their own.

POSCO ICT is aggressively moving forward with the energy business from the standpoint of Total Energy Optimization (TEO), which combines the entire energy circulation process such as power generation/demand, transmission/distribution, consumption, etc., to integrate value chain in order to support optimization. POSCO ICT’s energy business is expected to focus on the construction of Connected Community Grid (CCG) with which energy is produced and consumed by integrating all of such unit functions.