ESS and HVDC were the technologies developed

ESS and HVDC were the technologies developed with the most emphasis on creating new businesses while serving as the head of Hyosung Heavy Industries Research Institute.

Hyosung Heavy Industries is a company that produces transformers and circuit breakers, which are key components of the power grid, and has recently been booming due to the growing demand for more grids in response to the explosive increase in renewable energy. The surge in demand for transformers and circuit breakers is expected to result in a primary wave, and as renewable energy becomes the main power source in the future, the power grid itself must change fundamentally, and the new core technologies needed for this will become a much larger secondary wave.

In other words, there are several limitations in responding to new requirements such as storing and retransmitting power transmission in real-time in ESS and power grid technology with improved stability and reliability to compensate for the intermittence of renewable energy, so it must eventually be converted to DC power grid. The AC method led by Tesla through the electric current war more than 100 years ago is now expected to be transformed into the DC method led by Edison.

CIGRE, a research group for establishing global standards in the power grid sector, already defined core technologies for future power grids centered on renewable energy in 2018, including ESS, HVDC, Microgrid, and FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System).

Looking at the trends of the domestic HVDC-related power grid, the HVDC that has been installed so far has been around for more than 20 years with several problems.
First, since around 2010, the current type HVDC, which has been put to practical use, has been selected instead of the voltage type HVDC.
Second, due to the introduction of products that neglect the internalization of technology, the technology has been so insufficient that maintenance cannot be done on its own that it has been struggling to operate the power grid.

Taking this into account, Hyosung Heavy Industries has completed the development of the "200MW class voltage type HVDC" national project, which began in 2017, with its own technology for about seven years, with researchers such as the Institute of Electrical Research and the Institute of Electrical Components, research groups at domestic universities, and small and medium-sized enterprises developing parts. Domestic experts have recognized this technology as a technology that only top global companies such as ABB and Siemens can create, and they did not even think that it could be developed in Korea.

I would like to thank Hyosung Heavy Industries' juniors and all the researchers who participated in the study, the Institute of Electrical Research and Evaluation of Energy Technology, KEPCO, which selected the location and led the installation and test of the electricity grid, and the Institute of Electrical Research for guiding the overall R&D.

The development of the 200MW class marked an important milestone in Korea's entry into the market led by Chinese companies in addition to the existing Big 3 power devices, but there is still more to go. The global HVDC market has already been commercialized several GWs and many large projects are under way, so there is a challenge to increase capacity 10 times. However, since the voltage HVDC adopts the Modular Multilevel Converter method, it is relatively easy to increase capacity and the process of developing and demonstrating this product is important because it is not a big problem because the ultra-high voltage technology is already secured, and the most important factor in securing the technology is whether it can be given such an opportunity in Korea.

In Korea, a 10GW offshore wind power plant is planned in the sea in front of Sinan, Jeollanam-do, and on the other hand, the Yongin semiconductor cluster requires about 10GW of clean power, so it is said that connecting it can satisfy RE100. Failure to satisfy RE100 could result in the worst-case scenario of not being able to sell the semiconductors produced in this semiconductor complex. Since GW-class HVDC is required to connect to land through an undersea cable in the sea in front of Sinan, how to install it is also of interest.

As is well known, with the rapid development of AI, there is a boom in AI Data Center, which is creating a new enormous amount of power. However, a greater power demand than this is required for semiconductor factories to supply the semiconductors required for this. In other words, global big technologies are fiercely competing for AI innovation that will bring about fundamental changes in the industry, and dual innovations such as energy conversion innovation that requires the procurement of enormous power used in data centers and semiconductor factories with renewable energy are taking place.

These innovations frequently cause the starters to drop out of the competition and the new competitor to take the lead. There is a consensus that Korea will focus on semiconductors in AI innovation in order to enter the leading group in this innovation process, but it is still unclear in energy transformation innovation. What I would suggest is that since renewable energy has already taken the lead for a long time, it will be sufficient to enter the leading group by challenging core technologies in the future power grid where renewable energy is the main power source, such as ESS, HVDC, and Microgrid.

Therefore, it is hoped that the government will make a decision to participate in the GW-class HVDC connecting South Jeolla Province's offshore wind power to the Yongin semiconductor cluster, which is being talked about in Korea, through the completion of the development of the 200MW HVDC and the installation test of KEPCO's electric grid.