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Gasa Island Microgrid in Southern Korea

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations5
System facts29
Sources reviewed10
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

This recovered slug and `gasado-island` refer to the same KEPCO microgrid on Gasa-do/Gasado (가사도), Jindo County; their capacities must not be counted twice. The as-built academic record gives 314 kW of PV, four 100 kW wind turbines, three 100 kW diesel generators, and a 3 MWh lithium-ion BESS with 1.25 MVA of conversion capacity. Vendor literature sometimes rounds PV to 320 kW and battery energy to 3.2 MWh. Commercial operation began in October 2014, and measured 2015-2016 fuel records show roughly 73-77% less diesel than the 2013 baseline.

Research status
Commissioned for commercial operation in October 2014 and documented as operating in field measurements through 2016. A 2022 peer-reviewed study still used Gasa-do as the existing pilot microgrid, and current Hyosung reference material continues to list it as completed, but the study's AI/demand-response results are simulations rather than evidence of a deployed upgrade. No public post-2016 fuel series or independently verified 2023-2026 availability, battery health, renewable fraction, or major refurbishment was located.
Historical classification
Island
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
34.47757, 126.05863
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Gasa Island Microgrid in Southern Korea?

5 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Hyosung Heavy Industries

ESS/microgrid integrator whose current reference lists a completed Gasado 1.25 MW/3 MWh project and whose technical material describes voltage and frequency regulation for the island. [9][8]

Organization

Kokam

Battery-system supplier that publishes Gasado as a KEPCO reference at a nominal 1.25 MW/3.2 MWh rating. [4]

Organization

Korea Electric Power Corporation

Project developer, majority funder, owner/operator, and developer of the integrated EMS/PMS and automatic dispatch strategy. [7][2][3][5]

Organization

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea

Central-government sponsor within the KRW 9.2 billion public-private demonstration program. [7][2]

Organization

NPS

Manufacturer of the four 100 kW wind turbines in the official Korean generation inventory. [10][8]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
320 [1]
KW Wind
400 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
300 [1]
Storage
3.2 MWh [1]
Solar photovoltaic capacity
314 kW as built in field literature: 266 kW across land and rooftop arrays plus 48 kW floating PV. Recovered/vendor summaries commonly round this to 320 kW. [3][7]
Wind generation
Four 100 kW NPS turbines, 400 kW total [3][7][10]
Diesel generation
Three 100 kW generators, 300 kW total. A recovered 100 kW figure is the per-unit rating, not the plant total. [3][7][2]
Battery storage and power conversion
Operational and Hyosung accounts report 1.25 MW/3 MWh; Kokam's supplier presentation and some recovered summaries give a 3.2 MWh nominal battery rating. The 3.0 versus 3.2 MWh values are retained as operational versus vendor-nameplate reporting. [3][7][9][4]
Pre-project island demand and diesel use
Average load 96 kW, maximum 173 kW, minimum 61 kW, and approximately 285,000 litres/year of diesel in the design baseline; the measured 2013 comparison year used 260,847 litres [7]
Measured diesel use
260,847 L in 2013, 214,921 L in 2014, 60,194 L in 2015, and 72,416 L in 2016—equivalent to 77.3% and 72.7% reductions in 2015 and 2016 against the 2013 comparison year [7]
Project funding
KRW 9.2 billion public-private project: 60% central government, 35% KEPCO, and 5% provincial contribution; the IDB retrospective reports about US$7.67 million investment [7]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery energy storage

Kokam / Hyosung Heavy Industries

Kokam identifies Gasado as a KEPCO 1.25 MW/3.2 MWh battery reference, while Hyosung identifies a completed 1.25 MW/3 MWh microgrid/ESS scope. Field literature specifies nickel-manganese-cobalt lithium-ion chemistry rated for one-C operation and approximately 4,000 cycles; sources do not fully divide pack, PCS, and integration responsibilities. [4][9][3][7]

02

Wind turbines

NPS

Four 100 kW permanent-magnet-synchronous-generator turbines with full power converters. The official inventory and technical paper do not provide a reliable public model number. [10][8]

03

Solar arrays

Model not publicly disclosed

Eight PV groupings totaling 314 kW include rooftop, land-based, and 48 kW floating installations. Public sources reviewed do not identify module or inverter models. [3][7]

04

Diesel generators

Model not publicly disclosed

Three existing 100 kW units are retained as backup. The battery inverter normally forms the grid, so diesel sets need not remain continuously online. [3][7]

05

Energy and power management

Korea Electric Power Corporation

KEPCO combined EMS and PMS functions in one system with SCADA, generation and load forecasting, battery-SOC management, automatic power-flow control, and direct-load control through a supervisory application. [3][7]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • General

    Battery system: 3.2MWh [1]

  • General

    Wind Power: 400kW [1]

  • General

    Solar: 320kW [1]

  • General

    Application: Renewable Enhancement, Reduce Diesel Generator [1]

  • General

    Diesel Power Capacity : 300kW [1]

  • General

    EMS: Automatic control [1]

  • General

    Previous(Diesel power plant) : 57% – Today (MicroGrid) : 100% [1]

  • Grid-forming architecture

    The BESS inverter regulates island voltage and frequency in constant-voltage/constant-frequency mode, while PV and wind operate as sources behind converters and the diesel generators provide backup. This reverses the conventional diesel-forming architecture and allows extended diesel-off operation. [3][7][9]

  • Flexible-load control

    The EMS directs surplus renewable energy to useful loads including water pumping and battery-room cooling instead of curtailing all excess. Forecasting, SOC thresholds, and direct load control coordinate dispatch automatically. [3][7]

  • Early measured operation

    From October 2014 through March 2015, field researchers reported an average renewable fraction of about 82% and roughly 80% lower fuel use. A seven-month utility account similarly reported more than 81% diesel reduction and 29,387 litres consumed. These short-window figures differ from the full-year 2015-2016 records but are directionally consistent. [3][2][7]

  • Economics

    The IDB retrospective calculated a simple payback longer than 25 years using about US$270,000 in annual fuel savings on US$7.67 million investment. That estimate excludes or simplifies broader resilience, emissions, demonstration, and learning benefits. [7]

  • Later research boundary

    A 2022 Scientific Reports article uses the physical Gasa microgrid as its case and models distributed optimization and reinforcement-learning demand response, including a modeled 20% peak reduction. It does not establish that those algorithms or results were deployed in the community system. [6]

  • Duplicate-record warning

    `gasa-island-microgrid-in-southern-korea` and `gasado-island` are spelling variants for the same Gasa-do installation. Aggregate maps, portfolios, and capacity calculations should deduplicate them rather than add 314-320 kW PV, 400 kW wind, and 3-3.2 MWh storage twice. [7][9][10]

Provenance

10 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
    Gasa Island microgrid enters commercial operation

    Korea Energy Economics Institute / Yonhap News · Secondary research

  3. [3]
    Operating Schedule of Island Microgrid with Renewable Energy Resources

    Energies / Korea Electric Power Research Institute · Primary source

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Gasa Island microgrid demonstration

    Electric Power Research Institute · Primary source

  6. [6]
  7. [7]
    South Korea's Experience with Smart Infrastructure Services: Smart Grids

    Inter-American Development Bank · Secondary research

  8. [8]
    Operation Strategy of a Microgrid with Energy Storage System in Gasa Island

    Journal of Power System Engineering · Primary source

  9. [9]
    Microgrid Solution project references

    Hyosung Heavy Industries · Primary source

  10. [10]
    Korea South-East Power wind-generation facility inventory

    Korea South-East Power Co. · Primary source

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