LS Electric and the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corporation (KHNP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the development of AI data centers powered by small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
Under the terms of the MoU, the companies plan to combine LS Electric’s power system and distributed energy sources with KHNP’s SMR technology to explore the development of AI data centers and power grid solutions powered by the technology. In addition, the partners plan to explore the research and development potential of a smart net-zero city in South Korea.
“I expect that we can export the smart net-zero city platform that combines Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corporation's innovation-type SMR and LS Electric's power system technology capabilities to the global market and further develop it into new K-Industry sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductors,” said LS Electric CEO Koo Ja-kyun.
LS Electric has a 60 percent market share in South Korea’s commercial data center power infrastructure. In September, it partnered with Vertiv Korea to develop integrated power solutions for the South Korean data center market.
KHNP is currently developing its SMR product, the i-SMR, an integrated pressurized water SMR with an electrical output of 170MW. The company expects to complete the standard design by the end of 2025 and gain approval in 2028.
South Korea has been a hotbed of data center development over recent years. By 2027, the country's total data center capacity is expected to surge to 3.2 GW, a 2.4-fold increase from the 2023 capacity.
The country has a diverse customer base including hyperscale cloud providers such as AWS and Microsoft, and local developers such as Kakao and Naver. Last month, Microsoft launched its second data center in Busan, South Korea.
However, due to limited transmission capacity and complicated government regulations, especially in Seoul, the capital, it has become increasingly difficult for data centers to acquire a grid connection, stifling their capacity.
This has led companies to seek behind-the-meter agreements to power their operations, as shown in the MoU between the LS and KHNP.
Another example of a novel power agreement signed in the country occurred in November when Korea Southeast Power and EPC firm Samsung C&T signed an MoU with the Chungnam regional government to develop the “Dangjin Green Energy Hub,” a hydrogen fuel cell power plant linked to a data center.
The project will be South Korea's first fuel cell hydrogen power plant. It will utilize a 900MW hydrogen plant and 300MW of battery energy storage to support the operations of a large-scale data center.
SMRs are gaining traction within the data center sector as a crucial clean power source. As a result, several major data center operators have signed supply agreements with SMR developers. These agreements have been in the US market, with Amazon, Equinix, and Google all inking agreements with SMR firms this year.
The market's growth will likely catalyze further agreements outside the US as regions scramble to secure reliable, clean power to meet the increasing demand from AI data centers.
More in Critical Power
-
-
-
Episode The big battery comparison