Japanese, Korean utilities join smart-grid coalition

IBM has announced that two new utilities have joined its Global IUN Coalition, a group of utility companies designed to further the adoption of smarter energy grids around the world: TEPCO from Japan, and KEPCO from Korea. The coalition now collectively serves approximately 150 million energy customers worldwide.

TEPCO, the largest vertically integrated electric utility company in Japan, serves approximately 28 million customers in the metropolitan Tokyo area.  KEPCO, Korea’s sole electric power company, is leading the world’s largest comprehensive smart-grid test bed in Jeju Island that brings together smart technologies in the areas of generation, power grid, electrical service, buildings and transportation.

The Global IUN Coalition member companies are diverse in their knowledge contributions. For example, DONG Energy of Denmark is a leader in renewable energy, sourcing 20 per cent of its power from wind and working toward generating 50 per cent of its energy with CO2-neutral resources by 2020. NDPL of India offers the perspective of providing power to an emerging market, where reliability and full access to electricity are still in development. Oncor in the US has an aggressive goal of updating its entire network with 3.2 million advanced meters by 2012.

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