Testing a carbon-free future: sociotechnical experiments in renewable energy on Jeju island

Abstract

Jeju, the largest island off the southern coast of South Korea, was declared in 2012 to become a Carbon-Free Island until 2030. While Jeju Island has been a well-known tourist destination in East Asia and a target of developmentalism in South Korea, Jeju policymakers are now expecting to make the island a “test bed” of green energy to test whether a 100% renewable energy future is possible. Drawing from science and technology studies (STS), anthropology of energy, history of technology, and island studies, I ask: What do people expect from test beds? What do test beds do? What happens in them? This dissertation examines the sociotechnical processes of making a green energy test bed on Jeju Island. I first contextualize the carbon-free test bed within the history of Jeju as an exceptional site in South Korea. Using ethnographic and historical research methods, I provide empirical research on three key technologies of the Carbon-Free Island initiative: smart grid, electric vehicles, and wind turbines. On smart grid experiments in the late 2000s that preceded the carbon-free island initiative, I demonstrate that Jeju’s islanded grid has been a container of risk and success. On the spread and promotion of electric vehicles, I suggest that permanent exhibition is the central role and practice of test beds. Lastly, I conceptualize the processes of accepting renewable energy with material and cultural implantation of wind turbines. Together, I demonstrate that test beds are not simply placed on an empty site but are contained, exhibited, and implanted in a place full of materials and meanings. Ultimately, I argue that Jeju Island has become an experimental subject of renewable energy.