South Korea’s state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) vowed to spend about 100 billion won (87.6 million) to develop Internet of Things (IoT) solutions based on its own proprietary technology that can predict potential failures and reduce downtime in its power grids.

According to the electric power industry Monday, KEPCO aims to develop its own asset performance management software that monitors and detects any future defects in its power generation, transmission and distribution grids by 2019. With the new software, the utility firm would be able to better forecast and respond to potential outrage or overload of its facilities through collected data from sensors, a move that should help reduce downtime in the grids.

A source with the knowledge of the matter said KEPCO already had a research institute embark on the research of the related IoT technology and has a plan to install the new IoT solution in its nationwide electric power system after a trial run.

General Electric Co. (GE) is currently the world’s leading provider of such an industrial Internet operating system. Its “Predix” is an IoT solution powered by the platform that offers data monitoring and diagnostic capabilities to various business operations such as offshore drilling, allowing businesses to save costs and reduce downtime in advance.

A KEPCO official tipped that the state-run utility firm aims to develop cutting-edge GE-style IoT solutions for the nationwide electric power system in Korea. He added that KEPCO will incorporate latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT to reshape the nation’s electric power industry.

The utility firm earlier announced that it earmarked 430 billion won for investment on its research and development (R&D) in the energy sector including IoT solutions. On Monday, it reported 12 trillion won in operating profit for the full year of 2016 on a consolidated basis and 60.2 trillion won in revenue.

Shares of KEPCO on Tuesday closed at 41,300 won, down 0.12 percent from the previous session.

By Kim Jung-hwan

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