〔For more information〕 Professor Young Il Lee, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of SeoulTech (☎ 02-970-6544)

SeoulTech holds an opening ceremony for the Smart Energy Town Development University Research Center
 

- Sets goal to reduce energy consumption by 30% by end of 2021
- Regular operation of self-driving shuttle buses and development of highly reliable ESS (Energy Storage System)
 

□ On Monday July 15, SeoulTech (President: Kim, Jong Ho) held an opening ceremony for the University Research Center based on a theme chosen by the Ministry of Education, “Smart Energy Town Platform Development,” at the Techno Cube Building at SeoulTech. Attendees included members of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and 13 participating small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as master’s and doctoral researchers.

□ The University Research Center will develop smart building systems, electric vehicle autonomous driving, highly reliable ESSs, a Smart Energy Town intelligent platform, and electric vehicle charging robots in three stages over the next 9 years, until 2028.
○ In the first stage, the SeoulTech Frontier Building and Future Building will be converted into smart buildings. Smart energy management systems and IoT (Internet of Things) sensors will be installed to remotely monitor the lighting, air conditioning systems, and hot and cold water dispensers in empty classrooms, laboratories, and research rooms, and to block the power supply to save energy consumption by up to 30% in order to contribute to the prevention of global warming.  This smart building system will save costs which will enable the system to be extended to 50 more buildings both on and off the SeoulTech campus. The cost savings provided by this system will help to support the participating companies’ follow-up projects, to increase their technological competitiveness, and to promote projects to make the local communities more environmentally-friendly.
○ An autonomous electric vehicle shuttle service will be offered to students, who currently have to run from one building to another to take classes on the huge campus. They will benefit from the convenience of these new vehicles operated as artificial intelligence-based self-driving shuttle buses. In addition, through cooperation with Korean venture companies, the University Research Center will develop small-scale mobility carts for delivering and returning books, documents, parcels, coffee, and hamburgers. After commercializing these devices, a mobility service will be provided to the elderly, the infirm, and those who have reduced mobility at apartment complexes, local parks, tourist sites, and public institutions to help the transportation-vulnerable and support the growth of the relevant companies.
○ The University Research Center will also develop highly reliable ESSs to respond to climate risks such as micro-dust, heat waves, and severe cold, as well as an optimal operation model for new and renewable urban energy. To resolve the social issues caused by the recent instability of ESSs, lithium-ion, iron phosphate, long-life batteries and a high-precision optimal charging algorithm will be developed through joint work with participating companies, and will be verified by applying a Power Conversion System (PCS)in harmony with the purposes of the University Research Center program.
○ In preparation for the upcoming electric vehicle revolution, the University Research Center will develop stable high-efficiency charging systems and robots. The demand for electric vehicles has doubled each year since 2014; it reached 57,000 last year and is expected to rise to 120,000 this year. Following this trend, the demand is anticipated to increase dramatically within 10 years. Therefore, an exclusive research team will be formed to develop rapid charging robots for convenient and safe charging. The team will develop and demonstrate Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology that can connect robots with new and renewable power sources as well as the power demand of the grid.

□ The University Research Center will establish an exclusive platform and a comprehensive operation center to visualize the Smart Energy Town research and ensure its internal stability. The state of the individual components will be monitored, and the big data will be analyzed to improve the technological levels of the participating small and medium-sized enterprises. The academic standard will also be raised by publishing articles in the SCI journals and registering patents, so as to make SeoulTech a leading university specializing in global energy research. 

□ In his welcome speech, SeoulTech President Kim Jong Ho said, “SeoulTech will provide abundant researchers, funds, and research spaces to research and develop the Smart Energy Town successfully.” He added, “We will provide proactive support to the University Research Center so that it can become a global Smart Energy Town hub as a good example of university-institute-industry cooperation by helping the research conducted by the university, the growth of the participating companies, and the employment of the university students.”

□ In a congratulatory message read by Kwon Min, the head of the Green Energy Department of the Seoul Metropolitan government, the mayor of Seoul, Park Won-sun, stated, “The development of an environmentally-friendly Smart Energy Town by SeoulTech will make a great contribution to the resolution of climate risks. We will review specific methods to help the research project be successful.”

□ Professor Lee Young Il said, “The development of a cloud-based Smart Energy Town Platform will improve the energy consumption efficiency and secure the flexibility of power systems.” He added, “We will do our best to make the University Research Center a world-class smart energy research institute through cooperation between the participating professors, small and medium-sized enterprises, and full-time researchers and students.”

□ The project to develop the Smart Energy Town platform was launched in July. The main research facilities were established on the 5th and 10th floors of the Techno Cube Building in SeoulTech, and the necessary human resources were secured by the end of July. The project will start full scale in August. Two of the 13 participating small and medium-sized enterprises will bring their research centers into the building to begin research for the development of the Smart Energy Town platform and electric vehicle charging robots in September.

[Attached] Four photos related to the opening ceremony of the University Research Center.