The other day the whole of Jeju island experienced a power outage. You don't even need to explain the confusion experienced by people living there. They say it happened because the underwater power cable connecting Jeju and Haenam, South Jeolla province with the mainland became damaged. Jeju does have three power plants, but they are small in scale and so 45 percent of what it needs, or 155,000 kilowatts, comes through the cable. Since the cable was laid in 1997, however, there have been some 90 breakdowns large and small leading to 26 power failures. In other words, the potential for a massive power outage was always there. That is more than your average serious situation for the people of Jeju province.
Even worse, the system in place that would have redirected power in such emergencies within the province didn't function properly. An overload of demand caused even the power plants to stop working. The only conclusion to be made is that there is a serious hole in the emergency response system, or that someone neglected everyday maintenance.
For starters, there needs to be a thorough review of Jeju's power system so that something of this nature does not happen again. Then there needs to be a fundamental plan to fix the problems long-term. The situation is going to improve when two additional power generators in South Jeju that are currently under construction are completed, but there will be no stable power supply as long as most of the province's electricity comes from the underground power line. It is not that we cannot understand Korea Electric Power Company's preference for supplying Jeju with the power it needs through the cable, since it would be more expensive to meet the province's power demands with more power plants. However, while electricity may not be as important as national defense and public security, it is still an essential public asset which you cannot judge based only on whether or not it is economical. Jeju is going to see an increase in demand as it pursues its plans to be an "international free city," but that project will be hard to implement without stable power. There needs to be a profoundly changed perspective about the problem, along with an eye for the long term.
The Hankyoreh, 3 April 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Jeju Shouldn't Be In The Dark About Electric Power |
