In light of Korea's power crisis, the nation's largest telecommunications companies are doing their part to help out.
This KT communications relay station in the mountains of Gwangju has been outfitted with solar panels to generate electricity.
The Korean telecom plans to install additional solar cells in other cell towers and relays.

[Interview : Choi Jung-woong, Manager
KT Property Administration ] "In the telecommunications industry, we're the first to take advantage of solar power to actively help with the government's power shortage."

The solar panels have been so efficient that they not only have reduce power consumption, but also generate excess electricity of 6-hundred thousand kilowatts per year, effectively creating a solar power plant.
The excess electricity is then sold back to the government, providing a much-needed supply to the country's power grid.
SK Telecom has also been going green with new power management technologies.
Many of SK Telecom buildings have installed automatic power systems to tightly regulate electricity use and eliminate wasteful consumption by controlling temperatures, lighting, and other utilities.
The new monitoring system is estimated to have reduced the total energy use by up to 20 percent in each building that employs it.


[Interview : Yu Byung-cheon, Manager
SK Telecom Public Operations Headquarters] "We're aware of recent national emergency power supply issue. Therefore we use a 'Building Energy Management System' to optimize electricity use."

The SK Telecom-developed energy-saving system has been so successful, it's also being sold to other companies.
As Korea continues to experience serious power shortages, more and more companies are taking note of green technologies which provide long-term cost savings and a signficant investment for the future.

Paul Yi, Arirang News

Reporter : paulyi@arirangtv.com