• Information Systems Review
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.189-207
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• 2010

We applied IT ecosystem analysis to Smart Grid system in this paper and thereby compared various arguments about Smart Grid technologies against the reality of the power generation and distribution in South Korea with a special attention to the power distribution side. Our work attempts to propose policy implications in the government-level based on a firm-level analysis using the framework of the competitive strategy and advantage. The Smart Grid initiative is expected to enhance the efficiency in the power generation and distribution. In addition, the Smart Grid initiative aims at capturing the opportunities in the electric power business such as parts, components, supplies, and system products in the global arena. Prerequisites of smart distribution system include building infrastructure based on smart distribution parts, information systems, communication technologies, and developing various application programs and interfaces that would interact with the consumers. Consumers are expected to play an integral role by changing their consumption patterns in response to dynamic pricing and quality choices enabled by the smart distribution technologies. In order to induce the consumers to participate actively in the program, firms and policy makers should consider providing consumers economic incentives and proper education for better understanding of new technologies. Our work helps policy makers and firm better understand the nature of technology and stakeholders for the successful implementation of smart distribution technologies.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.496-523
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic feasibility of two fast pyrolysis and biooil upgrading (FPBU) plants including feed drying, fast pyrolysis by fluidized-bed, biooil recovery, hydro-processing for biooil upgrading, electricity generation, and wastewater treatment. The two FPBU plants are Case 1 of an FPBU plant with steam methane reforming (SMR) for $H_2$ generation (FPBU-HG, 20% yield), and Case 2 of an FPBU with external $H_2$ supply (FPBUEH, 25% yield). The process flow diagrams (PFDs) for the two plants were constructed, and the mass and energy balances were calculated, using a commercial process simulator (ASPEN Plus). A four-level economic potential approach (4-level EP) was used for techno-economic analysis (TEA) under the assumption of sawdust 100 t//d containing 40% water, 30% equity, capital expenditure equal to the equity, $H_2$ price of $1050/ton, and hydrocarbon yield from dried sawdust equal to 20 and 25 % for Case 1 and 2, respectively. TCI (total capital investment), TPC (total production cost), ASR (annual sales revenue), and MFSP (minimum fuel selling price) of Case 1 were $22.2 million, $3.98 million/yr, $4.64 million/yr, and $1.56/l, respectively. Those of Case 2 were $16.1 million, $5.20 million/yr, $5.55 million/yr, and $1.18/l, respectively. Both ROI (return on investment) and PBP (payback period) of Case 1(FPBU-HG) and Case 2(FPBU-EH) were the almost same. If the plant capacity increases into 1,500 t/d for Case 1 and Case 2, ROI would be improved into 15%/yr.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.693-712
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• 2006

A pre-feasibility test is done for renewable energy hybrid power systems at off~grid islands in which the current power supply is provided only by diesel generation. We apply Homer (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables) which was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the analysis to identify the cost-minimizing combination of power generating facilities for the given load profiles. Chuja-Do, Geomun-Do and Youngsan-Do have been selected for our analysis considering the wind resources data of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER). Information on wind speed, solar radiation and temperature is also used for the analysis. System component cost information from overseas market has been used due to the lack of domestic information. Site specific Load profile for electricity demand for those islands are reconstructed based on the partial survey results obtained form other sources. The LCOE of the least cost hybrid power systems for Chuja-Do, Geomun-Do and Youngsan-Do are $0.278/kWh, $0.234/kWh and $0.353/kWh, respectively Considering the fact that diesel generation is being subsidized at the price of $0.300/kWh by the government, first 2 cases are economically feasible for the introduction of renewable energy hybrid systems to those islands. But the third case of Youngsan-Do does not meet the criteria. The basic differences of these pre-feasibility test results are from the differences of the site specific renewable energy conditions, especially wind resources. In summary, promoting hybrid systems in the off-grid remote island should be based on the economic feasibility test results. Not all the off-grid islands are feasible for introducing this renewable energy hybrid system.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.193-198
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• 2012

The following results are from the test of semi-gel electrolyte to store energy efficiently and use advanced VRLA batteries by photovoltaic and wind power generation. Semi-Gel electrolyte with Silica 5% became Gel after 1 and half hour. It shows it is the most suitable time that the electrolyte can be absorbed into the separator and active material of plate to be gel. The test also says that semi-gel electrolyte shows the much better performance for low-rate discharge and the liquid electrolyte is good for high-rate discharge because the reaction rate of gel electrolyte is slower than liquid one for high-rate discharge performance. The test with DOD10% and DOD100% says that 5% silica electrolyte shows much better performance for life efficiency than liquid one. Because semi-gel electrolyte increase the efficiency of gas recombination at the chemical reaction of VRLA battery and it makes minimizing the reduction of electrolyte. Using the 5% silica electrolyte in order to improve the stroage efficiency and life performance for photovoltic and wind power generation, it causes improving by 4.8% for DOD100% and 20% for DOD10%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.52-59
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• 2010

As electric power demand of customers is constantly increasing, more bulk power systems are needed to install in a network. By development of renewable energies and high-efficient facilities and deregulated electricity market, moreover, the amount of distributed resource is considerably increasing in distribution network consequently. Also, distribution network has become more and more complex as mesh network to improve the distribution system reliability and increase the flexibility and agility of network operation. These changes make fault current increase. Therefore, the fault current will exceed a circuit breaker capacity. In order to solve this problem, replacing breaker, changing operation mode of system and rectifying transformer parameters can be taken into account. The SFCL(Superconducting Fault Current Limiter) is one of the most promising power apparatus. This paper proposes a methodology for on optimal location of SFCL. This place is defined as considering the decrement of fault current by component type and the increment of reliability by customer type according to an location of SFCL in a distribution network connected with DG(Distributed Generation). With case studies on method of determining optimal location for SFCL applied to a radial network and a mesh network respectively, we proved that the proposed method is feasible.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.513-520
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• 2014

The Smart Grid is next-generation power system materialized Convergence and Integration of power technologies and Information Technologies. And this system is the next generation power system optimizing energy efficiency via real-time information exchanges grafting the information technologies upon present power networks which are web-net. The introduction of smart grid can be embodied for latitude, distributed and cooperated network by inter-active exchange of energy information between electrical power provider and consumer previous uni-directional electrical power supplement. Therefore in this paper, we proposed Convergence technologies - Smart power grid, Smart Place, Smart Renewable and Smart Electricity Service - to make smart-grid succeed via analyzing the datum. And we scoped on Convergence and Integration technologies, which could be used for smart-power-grid that is most important factor to replace previous power industries. And we brought out the expecting industrialize timing and interesting aspects and analyzed the result with survey of professional worker from institute, research center, power plant and business of power industries. And proposed the essential policies for the government and power-control-business companies based on the datum and survey output.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.731-744
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• 2013

Energy security is a topic of high importance to many countries throughout the world. Countries with access to vast energy supplies enjoy all of the economic and political benefits that come with controlling a highly sought after commodity. Given the desire to diversify away from fossil fuels due to rising environmental and economic concerns, there are limited technology options available for baseload electricity generation. Further complicating this issue is the desire for energy sources to be sustainable and globally scalable in addition to being economic and environmentally benign. Nuclear energy in its current form meets many but not all of these attributes. In order to address these limitations, TerraPower, LLC has developed the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) which is a near-term deployable and truly sustainable energy solution that is globally scalable for the indefinite future. The fast neutron spectrum allows up to a ~30-fold gain in fuel utilization efficiency when compared to conventional light water reactors utilizing enriched fuel. When compared to other fast reactors, TWRs represent the lowest cost alternative to enjoy the energy security benefits of an advanced nuclear fuel cycle without the associated proliferation concerns of chemical reprocessing. On a country level, this represents a significant savings in the energy generation infrastructure for several reasons 1) no reprocessing plants need to be built, 2) a reduced number of enrichment plants need to be built, 3) reduced waste production results in a lower repository capacity requirement and reduced waste transportation costs and 4) less uranium ore needs to be mined or purchased since natural or depleted uranium can be used directly as fuel. With advanced technological development and added cost, TWRs are also capable of reusing both their own used fuel and used fuel from LWRs, thereby eliminating the need for enrichment in the longer term and reducing the overall societal waste burden. This paper describes the origins and current status of the TWR development program at TerraPower, LLC. Some of the areas covered include the key TWR design challenges and brief descriptions of TWR-Prototype (TWR-P) reactor. Selected information on the TWR-P core designs are also provided in the areas of neutronic, thermal hydraulic and fuel performance. The TWR-P plant design is also described in such areas as; system design descriptions, mechanical design, and safety performance.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.254-261
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• 2012

The purpose of this research was to optimize electric current production of sediment microbial fuel cells by injecting glucose and to investigate its impact on microbial communities involved. It was shown that injection of proper concentration of glucose could increase electric current generated from sediment microbial fuel cells. When 1,000 mg/L of glucose, as opposed to higher concentrations, was injected, electric current increased up to 3 times. This increase is mainly attributed to the mutual relationship between fermenting bacteria and exoelectrogenic bacteria. Here the organic acids generated by fermenting bacteria could be utilized by exoelectrogenic bacteria, removing feedback inhibition caused by the organic acids. When glucose was injected, the population of Clostridium increased as to ferment injected glucose. Glucose fermentation can have either a positive or negative effect on electric current generation. When exoelectrogenic bacteria may readily utilize the end-product, electric current could increase. However, when the end-product was not readily removed, then detrimental chemical reactions (pH decrease, methane generation, organic acids accumulation) occurred: exoelctrogenic bacteria population declined and non-microbial fuel cell related microorganisms prospered. By injecting a proper concentration of glucose, a mutual relationship between fermenting bacteria, such as Clostridium, and exoelectrogenic bacteria, such as Geobacter, should be fulfilled in order to increase electricity production in mixed cultures of microorganisms collected from the aquatic sediments.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.449-456
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• 2014

There has been increasing concerns for the problems of water security in countries, caused by the frequent occurrence of localized drought due to the climate change and uncertainty of water balance. The importance of fresh water is emphasized as considerable amount of usable fresh water is utilized for power generation sector producing electricity. PV power system, the source of renewable energy, consumes water for the every steps of life cycle: manufacturing, installation, and operation. However, it uses relatively less water than the traditional energy sources such as thermal power and nuclear power sources. In this study, to find out the use of water for the entire process of PV power system from extracting raw materials to operating the system, the footprint of water in the whole process is measured to be analyzed. Measuring the result, the PV water footprint of value chain was $0.989m^3/MWh$ and the water footprint appeared higher specially in poly-Si and solar cell process. The following two reasons explain it: poly-Si process is energy-intensive process and it consumes lots of cooling water. In solar cell process, deionized water is used considerably for washing a high-efficiency crystalline silicon. It is identified that PV system is the source using less water than traditional ones, which has a critical value in saving water. In discussing the future energy policy, it is vital to introduce the concept of water footprint as a supplementary value of renewable energy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2008

As the first comprehensive attempt at a national implementation, this study aims at assessing the external costs of major electricity generation technologies in Korea, particularly an evaluation of the impacts on human health resulting from exposures to atmospheric radiological emissions from nuclear power plants, and a monetary quantification of their damages. The methodology used for the assessment of the externalities of the selected fuel cycles has been developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), namely the SimPacts Model Package. The model is internationally recognized as a tool which can be applied to a wide range of fuels, different technologies and locations, for an externalities study. In this study, the relevant emissions are quantified first and then their impacts on human health are evaluated and compared. The study focused on all the nuclear power plants for the last 6 years ($2001{\sim}2006$) in Korea. With respect to nuclear power, the impact analysis only focuses on a power generation, however the front- and back-end nuclear fuel cycles are not included, namely uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, reprocessing, conditioning, etc., because these facilities are not present in Korea. The analysis results show that nuclear power in general, generates low external costs. The highest damage costs from the nuclear power plants among the 4 sites in Korea were estimated to be 3.9 mills/MWh, which is about 1/20th of the result for a similar case study conducted in the U.K., implemented through the ExternE project. This difference is largely due to the number of radionuclides included in the study and the amount of released radioactive emissions based on up-to-date information in Korea. In this study, the sensitivities of the major factors for nuclear power plants were also calculated. The analysis indicates that there was around a ${\pm}3%$ damage costs variation to a ${\pm}15%$ change of the reference population density and a ${\pm}1%$ damage cost variation to a $1{\sim}30$ meters change of the effective release height, respectively. These sensitive calculations show that there is only a minor difference when the reference costs are compared.