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Across the globe, governments and energy suppliers are increasingly recognising the advantages of renewable and smart energy systems. However, according to the Korea Energy Agency, as of May 2017, only 6.61% of South Korea’s electricity is generated by renewable energy sources. 6.61% South Korea’s electricty generated by renewable sources Korea Energy Agency, May 2017 Compounding this issue was Korea’s tightly controlled energy market. Until 2015, the generation and supply of Korea’s energy was the exclusive responsibility of KEPCO, Korea’s dedicated utility company. Recognising the need for stimulation in this sector, the government introduced phased liberalization of the country’s energy market, which eventually enabled competitors to enter the market. At the same time, the government-sponsored R&D project ‘Korea Micro Energy Grid’ was launched, allowing KT to develop

New Sun Road is a registered California Benefit Corporation committed to implementing solutions to climate change and global energy poverty. This group of talented engineers is partnering with Ugandan green energy startup GRS Commodities to deliver reliable and clean power to the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, Uganda. The goal of the pilot system is to provide affordable and reliable solar powered electricity to businesses on Kitobo Island.Although no small feat, deploying the solar power grids is likely the simplest part of the solution. Solar was the obvious choice for the power source because it is economical and relatively simple to deploy.The primary difficulty lies in managing the energy grid and ensuring proper maintenance without having to be on-site at every location. The capability to remotely monitor the grid will enable New Sun Road to expand their service across the Ssese Islands in a more efficient manner since each grid can be monitored from one central location. But, in remote areas, where communication options are limited, how do you remotely monitor and manage a smart solar power grid?Without a local ISP, this can be a complex challenge, so the team decided to enable remote connectivity over the global cellular network.In addition to communication challenges, another major difficulty New Sun Road had to overcome was finding a device capable of withstanding the high temperatures within their network hubs. The device would be residing within a NEMA enclosure in direct sunlight, so the capability to function under extremely high temperatures was a must.

The next generation of energy grids will need to adopt new approaches for the integration of distributed grid-edge devices and equipment from many different manufacturers to realize operational benefits. Existing systems that were designed to support a small number of large generation facilities will be faced with the need to integrate an increasing number of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as wind, solar and electricity storage into existing power generation and distribution networks.