ETRI Develops 3 New and Renewable Energy Infrastructure Technologies
Solar power management, small-scale power brokerage, and ESS integration technology
Expectations for the deployment of renewable energy and expansion of platform services


Infrastructure-based technology capable of efficiently managing and utilizing solar energy in the right places, as well as commercialization platform technology to support new industries, have been developed by domestic researchers.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 11th that it has developed three types of technologies: a monitoring platform technology for the full lifecycle management and maintenance of solar power plants, a platform technology for small-scale distributed energy power brokers, and an Energy Storage System (ESS) linkage technology.


Foundation technology for integrated solar resource control system established
Monitoring platform technology for the management and maintenance of solar power plants is an intelligent platform technology based on big data that enables optimal operational management across all stages, from power generation forecasting to automatic recovery and decommissioning diagnosis.

The research team conducted a demonstration of the developed monitoring technology on approximately 3,000 solar power plants nationwide. The demonstration results confirmed that the research team's technology enables the performance of big data-based analysis for management and maintenance through the real-time collection and monitoring of the operational status of each power plant.

This technology, which proactively identifies anomalies, automatically repairs problems, and helps power plants achieve maximum performance until the end of their lifespan, has been transferred to solar maintenance operators. It is currently operating as a system capable of integrated control of large-scale solar resources.


Small-scale solar power exchange operation becomes possible
Small-scale power brokerage platform technology is a new business operating system technology that supports power brokers in aggregating distributed energy resources and trading them in the power market.

The research team developed an operating system that enables brokers to aggregate small-scale power and trade it as a collective resource. In particular, they introduced solar power generation forecasting technology to facilitate stable bidding in the electricity market. Through this, they are supporting operators in conducting more flexible operations while reducing uncertainty.

The local company that received the technology plans to launch full-scale services in the first half of next year. In addition, the basic research on the renewable energy forecast improvement settlement system conducted by the research team and the Korea Power Exchange has been incorporated into the forecast improvement settlement system and is scheduled to be implemented in April 2021 following the amendment of related rules and procedures for system implementation.


Technology for stable solar-ESS integrated operation developed
The optimal linkage technology between solar power generation and ESS for grid stabilization is a technology that enables the optimal operation of solar power generation by linking it with ESS.

When a solar power generator exists as a single unit, stable operation is difficult due to fluctuating power generation. Although ESS needs to store residual power and supply it when needed, there was a disadvantage in that it was difficult to build due to the high unit cost of the device and the wide variety of types.

The research team developed relevant indicators, operational plan design structures, and evaluation tools to optimize power generation and stabilize output. It is a technology designed to calculate the appropriate ESS capacity based on solar power capacity and to evaluate the stability of how much the output energy affects the power grid during operation.

In particular, the distributed resource grid stabilization index has been established as a national standard for the first time and is expected to be widely utilized in the operation of renewable energy complexes.

The research team plans to develop digital energy infrastructure and application technologies, such as AI energy convergence appropriate technology, energy digital twin technology, and energy data dams, as well as energy convergence platform technology used in factories and smart cities.