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Smart wind, water and power high on governor¡¯s agendaWoo Keun Min connects the dots in development of renewable resources and technology
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¡ã At left, Governor Woo Keun Min. Photo courtesy Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. Right, US ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens (second from right) hosts a reception on Sept. 14 for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was on a trade mission. Among the invited guests was Jeju Governor Woo Keun Min, at left. Photo courtesy US Embassy Seoul

Governor Woo Keun Min is a political record setter. Manning the island’s most powerful office, this year he overcame controversy in a previous term to become the only governor in Korea to hold the post five times.

Despite his decades of experience, Woo claimed victory in last June’s 5th local elections by less than 1 percent over another Independent candidate, Hyun Myung Kwan, with the lowest overall proportion of votes of all gubernatorial candidates nationwide. The turnout on the island was 65.1 percent of all eligible voters — the highest in the nation but lower than in the 4th local elections in 2006. Part of the reason for his low vote was that his previous term, which started in 2002, was tarnished by a breach of election laws; the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Election Commission and Woo’s governorship was invalidated in 2004. This issue came back to haunt him in the run-up to this year’s election on June 2. After just 16 days of campaigning, he decided to leave the Democratic Party (Minjudang) to stand as an Independent.

In an interview with The Jeju Weekly last week, the energetic 70-year-old spoke forcefully and comprehensively about his mission: greening the island with the aim of resource self-sufficiency while developing technological breakthroughs that are exportable.

The governor also brought up a new plan, one dubbed Smart Water, an innovative and capital-intensive integration of Jeju’s natural and renewable resources.

   
¡ã An artist’s rendering of a sea-based wind turbine set for construction and testing off the shores of Jeju Island from 2011 to 2013. Courtesy Jeju Special Self-Governing Province

Woo prefaced the interview by referencing the Korea Smart Grid Week (Nov. 8 to 14) which took place during the G-20 Summit in Seoul. Since August, Gujwa-eup, Jeju City, has been a small scale test area for a national 2.75 trillion won Smart Grid project, set for completion in 2030.

“During the Italian G8 Summit [in 2009], each country was given an assignment. President Lee Myung Bak suggested that Korea would take up anything related to the Smart Grid,” Woo said. “Within Korea, a lot of places could be potential candidates. But this is related to green growth and the environment and the like. So the president decided that Jeju would be most suitable for the test bed.”

The Smart Grid is an environmental project with a complex weave of cutting-edge technologies in industries like electric power generation, IT, communications, electric cars and smart appliances, among others. Over 160 companies, both large and small, are contributing to the Jeju Smart Grid test bed.

“Private households are experimenting with solar panels in the test bed. This reduced their electric bills from 40,000 or 50,000 won per house to only 6,000 won. It's only 6,000 won and the electricity produced from solar energy goes into KEPCO [Korea Electric Power Corporation] to be sold again.”

“You see, until now, the black water of the Middle East was oil. It’s what fed the region. Jeju has the sea. Jeju has the wind. This should be transformed into the next generation's alternative energy source. Jeju is the optimum [place] for this,” Woo said. “It turned out that the area from Jungmun to Gosan has the best wind patterns for wind energy.”

“In the future, sea-based wind generation is going to be promoted more than earth-based wind generation. We are all about the sea. From this wind energy [pillar] to that [pillar] is about 300 meters,” Woo explained, pointing to a mock-up of a 3MW offshore wind turbine research and development plan set to be built from 2011 to 2013 and costing just under $20 million.

“Everything tells me that Jeju’s age has arrived by destiny. So the people of Jeju can be more courageous... This is the Smart Grid that our President [Lee] has given us. This will be the start of all development. I sincerely thank my president.”

Another big project Governor Woo detailed was a new plan called Smart Water. He referred to Jeju’s source of water for most everything — subterranean aquifers, a natural resource that he stressed should be utilized and studied carefully.

“In the east of the island, there is a village called Jongdari. I was born there. Until now, people who lived on Udo Island got their water by desalination. Now the village of Jongdari feeds water to Udo via underwater pipes, which will officially open in January.” When this happens, he said, the desalination facilities on Udo will be used for research purposes.

“Eventually, Jeju Island won’t have to use the subterranean Samdasoo for agriculture, but rather water obtained from desalination.”

Not only will there be benefits from developing and exporting new types of desalination technology, the underwater aquifers will be freed up for water export, rather than used for industrial-type water consumption, such as agriculture.

“Samdasoo will be exported because it’s more expensive [and thus more profitable]. This is the way Jeju’s got to go.”

Tying Smart Water into the Smart Grid, Governor Woo grew even more excited.

With desalination, he said, the cost is just over 1,100 won per ton. But using sub-terranean water, it costs only 760 won. But when the desalination process is combined with the reserve electricity time slot of the Smart Grid, “We can get the same amount of water for less than 700 won. This is magnificent.”

“Because the Smart Grid is already implemented here in Jeju, we can dare to conceive bringing about the wake of Smart Water industry as a block economy project for Jeju.”

The interview wrapped up with a subject dear to many beer lovers’ hearts: the improvement of domestic beer production. Woo said a Jeju-made beer could be a lucrative tourist attraction.

“Within next year, or the beginning of 2012, we plan to draft the first Jeju beer with our water and barley. To be honest, the current bottled beer we have is not really beer, but rather just fizz water,” he said. “This beer will be ours.”

“There’s a place called Wonjongjang in Jeju, which serves as our seed valley … we produce Baekho barley, which is of the highest quality, and combine it with Jeju’s water, the best in Korea, to draft beer. This beer will only be sold in Jeju. People will have to travel here to taste it.”

(Translation by Chris J. Park)

Woo Keun Min
Woo attended Seongsan High School (then Seongsan Maritime High School) from 1958 to 1961, and then obtained a B.A. in Public Administration from Myongji University in 1971 and an M.A. in the same discipline in 1973.

He worked at the Ministry of Government Administration from 1974 to 1991. He first became the 27th Governor of Jeju in 1991 and remained in the office as the 28th until 1996. He was re-elected as the 32nd and 33rd Governor of Jeju from 1998 to 2004.




Todd ThackerÀÇ ´Ù¸¥±â»ç º¸±â  
¨Ï Jeju Weekly 2009 (http://www.jejuweekly.com)
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