Korea to Save Power by Installing Smart Grid by 2030

An article in the Korea Times provides some interesting detail on South Korea's plans to install a smart grid by the year 2030.  The high tech, nationwide electricity grid is expected to create a market worth about $54.5 billion, create 500,000 new jobs annually, and to reduce the country's power consumption by 3 percent.  According to a ministry official, the energy saved will be the equivalent to having seven extra 1,000 megawatt nuclear power generators.  The internet protocol (IP) based electricity network will give consumers more choice, allowing them to pay different rates for electricity used on computers an heating, or different rates for power generated from green technology such as wind or solar power generators.  KEPCO is planning the country's first smart grid test bed on the island of Jeju.