GS25 Store Owners Saving Electricity Receive Incentives... Demand Response System Introduced

GS Retail Signs MOU with Korea Power Exchange, S&I Corporation, and Haezoom
Introducing Automated Demand Response (AUTO DR) System from Next Month 1st

GS Retail is participating in the national energy-saving project by utilizing the Smart store Energy Management System (SEMS).

On the 26th, GS Retail announced on the 27th that it signed a strategic business agreement (MOU) with the Korea Power Exchange, space management specialist company S&I Corporation, and energy IT company Haezoom to introduce the 'Automatic Demand Response (AUTO DR)' system in GS25 convenience stores.

GS Retail announced on the 27th that it has signed a strategic business agreement (MOU) with the Korea Power Exchange, space management specialist S&I Corporation, and energy IT company Haezoom to introduce the 'Automatic Demand Response (AUTO DR)' system in GS25 stores. Kwon Oh-hyun, CEO of Haezoom; Sa Gong-min, Head of Store Operations Support at GS Retail (Executive Director); Hwang Bong-hwan, Head of the Power Market Division at the Korea Power Exchange; and Noh Young-taek, Executive Director of S&I Corporation, are taking a commemorative photo at the signing ceremony held on the 26th (from left).
[Photo by GS Retail]

The Demand Response (DR) system is a program where individual users who reduce electricity usage during specific peak hours recommended by the Korea Power Exchange receive incentives. The automatic demand response (AUTO DR) system introduced to GS25 through this agreement is linked with remotely controllable smart devices to automatically control facility equipment.

Starting from the 1st of next month, GS Retail will immediately apply the automatic demand response system to more than 8,700 GS25 stores nationwide without additional investment costs. This is the largest scale in the convenience store industry, utilizing the Smart store Energy Management System (SEMS) that GS25 introduced in 2015. SEMS is a remote energy management system that combines Internet of Things technology with electrical equipment and devices in stores. It allows monitoring of store electricity consumption anytime and anywhere through the main server of the franchise headquarters and the smartphones of store owners and employees.

In this automatic demand response system, when the Korea Power Exchange requests power usage reduction from the demand management operator Haezoom, SEMS recognizes it and automatically controls store heating and cooling devices, lighting facilities, and more.

GS Retail expects that by reducing the inconvenience of manual control required by store owners and employees, the system will improve store operation efficiency while increasing the effect of power reduction. Additionally, as power consumption decreases, incentives of about 1,200 KRW per 1 kWh will be provided to store owners, which is expected to enhance store profitability.

Based on last year’s GS25 electricity usage, the expanded application of this AUTO DR system is expected to reduce annual electricity consumption by approximately 336 MWh. This is about 11 times the total national DR participation volume of the previous year. GS25 projected that the incentives returned to store owners will amount to approximately 437 million KRW annually.

GS25 plans to expand the number of stores adopting the automatic demand response system to about 12,000 within this year, while also applying it to existing heating and cooling devices, signboard lighting, and store lighting.

Sagong Min, Head of Store Operation Support at GS Retail (Executive Director), said, "With recent high inflation and continuous increases in electricity rates, nationwide interest in energy saving is growing. We believe that participating in this automatic demand response project will not only reduce energy consumption within stores but also contribute to long-term store profitability."