Pilot Project for National DR Using Smart LED Lighting Conducted at Gwangju Areum Village Complex 1
Lighting Brightness Automatically Reduced Upon Korea Power Exchange's Demand Reduction Request to Cut Energy Consumption
Expected Benefits Include Residents' Electricity Bill Savings and Revenue Based on Reduced Power Usage
Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) announced on the 29th that it will pilot the country's first automated National Demand Response (National DR) service at the Gwangju Areum Village Complex 1 National Rental Housing.
DR stands for Demand Response, a system where households or commercial establishments save electricity and sell it to the power market to generate revenue. When individual households participate in DR, it is called National DR. To cope with the increasing electricity demand, the government is actively promoting demand management policies as part of carbon neutrality efforts.
Participating households receive requests to reduce electricity usage from the Korea Power Exchange via text messages or smartphone apps, and reduce electricity consumption by turning off appliances and lights. As a result, they can receive a settlement payment of about 1,300 KRW per 1 kWh (kilowatt-hour) saved.
Last June, LH signed a business agreement with the Korea Power Exchange and conducted National DR pilot projects at National and Happy Housing complexes such as Songnim Village in Daejeon and Nammun Mountain in Jinju. Analysis of the pilot projects showed that the electricity reduction effect was somewhat low because residents had to manually control appliances each time the Korea Power Exchange requested power reduction. Accordingly, LH plans to promote the National DR pilot project by switching from the existing manual method to an automated method using smart LED lighting to increase residents' participation and effectively reduce electricity consumption.
The pilot target is Gwangju Areum Village Complex 1 (National Rental Housing, 632 households), where the lighting fixtures are due for replacement. LH plans to purchase and replace smart LED lights using the Public Procurement Service’s ‘Innovative Product Pilot Purchase Project’ system. The smart LED lights purchased this time have built-in communication equipment, enabling wireless communication without additional construction as long as there is an internet subscription. When the Korea Power Exchange requests power usage reduction, the lighting brightness is automatically adjusted without residents having to manually control appliances.
LH expects that through this pilot project, residents will reduce power consumption, save on electricity bills, and improve energy efficiency by 30% compared to existing LED lighting. Additionally, by replacing only the lighting fixtures without separate piping or wiring work, residents can use smart home functions based on wireless communication to remotely adjust lighting levels, further enhancing residential convenience.
LH plans to contribute to demand management policies, part of the government’s carbon neutrality policy, by creating low-carbon and eco-friendly residential spaces through rational energy consumption and efficient management of rental housing. Based on the results of this pilot project, LH intends to further expand automated National DR linked with LH’s own smart home functions in newly constructed rental housing.
An LH official said, "This project effectively implements National DR using automated control functions," adding, "It provides residents with a more convenient living environment and offers additional benefits such as electricity bill savings and settlement payments from reduced power consumption."
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