[Special Stock] Gridwiz, Core to Lee Jaemyung's Sunlight Pension Pledge, Leads in Power Demand Management... Poised for Major Gains

As solar energy-related stocks continue to show strength in the domestic stock market, the share price of Gridwiz is also rising. This appears to be influenced by the pledge of Lee Jaemyung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, who promised to "expand solar energy projects for farms, provide 'sunlight pensions,' and establish sunlight income villages led by local residents." Gridwiz benefits when electricity rates rise or when the proportion of inflexible power sources, such as renewables and nuclear energy, increases.

One of the proposed funding sources for the rural resident allowance is the use of sunlight pensions or wind pensions. This involves popularizing renewable energy generation, such as solar and wind power, to generate revenue from surplus electricity sales. Since local residents share the resulting income, this approach is viewed as a regional economic community or self-sufficiency model. While this is an extension of the basic income concept in itself, it can also be used as a funding source for the rural resident allowance, thereby helping to establish the system.

As of 1:18 p.m. on the 14th, Gridwiz was trading at 19,840 won, up 6.84% from the previous trading day.

Gridwiz was listed in June last year at a public offering price of 40,000 won, but the share price fell to about 50% of the IPO price due to continued selling for profit-taking.

Gridwiz is the leading company in the demand response (DR) trading market, holding the top market share. It provides demand management solutions and platforms to more than 1,000 client companies. The company also offers EPC and operational services related to solar power generation and electric vehicle charging infrastructure (E-Mobility). The DR business is the counterpart to supply management in the power market, providing incentives to encourage consumers to use electricity in a more rational way. When there are sudden fluctuations in electricity supply and demand, the DR business reduces electricity usage to lower power peaks, thereby suppressing the need for additional generation and transmission facilities and creating both economic and environmental benefits.

With countless small-scale clean power plants being installed nationwide, the system is shifting toward a bidirectional model where energy can be used immediately or supplied back to the grid. Energy data is used both by suppliers (such as Korea Power Exchange) to balance supply and demand, and by users to reduce their electricity consumption. Gridwiz generates revenue from the costs involved in maintaining this balance.

According to a Gridwiz report published late last year by Kim Youngho, a researcher at Samsung Securities, "The reduction amount has grown rapidly at an average annual rate of 289% over the past three years," and "as of the cumulative total in August, the national DR reduction amount reached 96,000 kWh, already 3.3 times the annual reduction amount for 2023." He added, "The importance of the demand response resource trading market is increasing due to the growing share of renewable energy."