LGU+ Selects 'Renewable Energy' as Future Growth Engine... Enters Power Brokerage Business

Entering the VPP Market for Power Trading Brokerage
Renewable Energy with Difficult Power Generation Forecasts
Utilizing AI-Based Prediction Technology in Partnership with KEPCO

LG Uplus has identified renewable energy as a future growth engine. The company plans to enter the renewable energy power brokerage business through strategic collaboration with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

According to LG Uplus on the 14th, the domestic electricity market is formed as a bidding market centered on the Korea Power Exchange. Power producers bid their available generation capacity the day before trading, and the Power Exchange determines and announces electricity prices based on predicted power demand according to the "Electricity Market Operation Rules."

In August, the government announced the "Renewable Energy Bidding System" through the revision of the "Electricity Market Operation Rules." This means that renewable energy, which was previously excluded from bidding due to high volatility caused by weather conditions such as season and time, making it difficult to predict generation and establish production plans, will now be traded in the same way as other electricity sources.

With renewable energy incorporated into the electricity bidding market, the "Virtual Power Plant (VPP)" has also gained attention. A VPP is a type of integrated platform that manages distributed power generation facilities collectively in a virtual space as if they were a single power plant.

Electricity market bidding transactions are based on flexible demand response through production planning and output control according to price principles. VPP operators use IT technology to predict and control power generation, resolving the uncertainties of renewable energy. They act as intermediaries helping renewable energy to compete on equal footing with other energy sources and enter the electricity trading market.

VPP operators maintain and manage renewable energy output through their platform and participate in bidding on behalf of power producers. Power producers can easily enter the bidding market and receive payments through the VPP. It is similar to a brokerage service.

LG Uplus views the VPP business as a future market with high growth potential and plans to actively recruit power resources. The company believes that its sales network secured through long-standing B2B (business-to-business) operations, expertise in integrated control platform solutions, and experience in settlement and billing services will be competitive advantages in the VPP business.

To this end, LG Uplus has also signed a business agreement with KEPCO to utilize renewable energy generation forecasting technology. KEPCO will provide AI-based solar power generation forecasting information to LG Uplus, which will use this information to participate in the bidding market.

The two companies plan to ▲ build partnerships in the integrated power plant market ▲ advance renewable energy generation forecasting technology ▲ expand power producers’ participation in the electricity market, thereby contributing to the spread of new and renewable energy.

LG Uplus will also participate in the "Jeju Island Electricity Market System Improvement Pilot Project" scheduled for next year. The company plans to use Jeju Island as a testbed to secure references for full-scale business entry.

Kwon Geun-seop, head of LG Uplus’s Smart Factory Business Division, said, "We plan to actively utilize KEPCO’s solar power generation forecasting technology, which provides the highest level of accuracy in Korea, based on our business capabilities and telecommunications infrastructure," adding, "We will contribute to revitalizing the new power industry through the integrated power plant business in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.