[Exclusive] Partial Shutdown of National Data Center Due to Soaring Electricity Bills... 'Unprecedented'

KISTI to Shut Down GSDC Cluster 50% from 21st to 30th
"Budget Shortage Due to Soaring Electricity Bills and Additional Equipment, Saving Electricity"
"Will Coordinate in Advance to Avoid Disrupting Research"
Some Researchers Protest, "Is Korea a Poor Country?"

An absurd situation has occurred where some supercomputer facilities, which are national strategic information assets, cannot be operated due to lack of electricity fees. At research sites, there are lamentations such as, "Since when did Korea fall into a situation where computers have to be shut down because of electricity fees?"

The National Supercomputing Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) announced on the 24th that from the 21st of this month until the end of the month, it has suspended operation of 50% of the cluster equipment operated by the internal large-scale data hub center (GSDC) to save electricity. These devices are operated separately from the center’s main equipment, the national supercomputer 5th generation Nurion. However, they are important facilities that store and analyze various experimental data from domestic and international sources such as the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory. Major universities and research institutes in Korea use this equipment for research and development work.

The reason for the suspension is the difficulty in bearing the electricity costs. Recently, electricity rates have risen sharply, and with the annual addition of cluster equipment, usage has increased significantly. The existing budget allocated for this year (about 400 million KRW) cannot cover the electricity fees for this equipment. The center spent about 350 million KRW on electricity fees for the cluster equipment last year, but this year it is expected to exceed 700 million KRW, more than double. Therefore, as a last resort, they decided to turn off half of the equipment during mid to late August, when electricity rates are highest and it is peak season, to minimize electricity consumption. Since the introduction of the first national supercomputer in 1988, this is the first time that operations have been reduced or suspended due to electricity fees.

Director Lee Sik of the center said, "Electricity fees have risen too much, and the overall project budget is limited, so it was impossible to cover the costs with this year’s budget." He added, "Researchers took many vacations, and the equipment was shut down during the expensive peak electricity season." He continued, "To save electricity and improve efficiency, we may need to retire old equipment that consumes a lot of power and has lower performance, and redistribute the amount of resources allocated per experiment." He also said, "Before suspending operations, we held close meetings with each user group to seek understanding, and we minimized the impact on resources promised under international agreements." He added, "If researchers urgently need the equipment, we will turn it back on to support them and minimize inconvenience."

However, dissatisfaction is emerging at the front lines of research. Professor Lee Hyung-mook of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Seoul National University said, "I heard that the computer was suddenly shut down due to lack of electricity fees while performing gravitational wave calculations through the National Supercomputing Center," and expressed, "It was shocking and bewildering as it was the first time I heard of such a situation."

The government increased the major research and development (R&D) budget for government-funded research institutes like KISTI by 3% (900 billion KRW) compared to the previous year. Research institutes argue that this is effectively a cut compared to the inflation rate. However, electricity fees have risen by 40% compared to last year. The problem is next year. The government plans to cut the budget for government-funded research institutes by 10.8% next year. On the other hand, due to rising energy prices, electricity fees are likely to increase further. In other words, next year, there may be a situation where facilities cannot be properly operated not just during the summer but throughout the entire year. Professor Lee pointed out, "This will have a serious negative impact on the country’s long-term competitiveness."