• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2883-2897
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• 2022

According to the Renewable Energy 3020 Implementation Plan announced in 2017 by the South Korean government, the electricity share of renewable energy will be expanded to 20% of the total electricity generation by 2030. Given the intermittency of electricity generation from renewable energy, realization of such a plan presents challenges to managing South Korea's isolated national electric grid and implies potentially large excess electricity generation in certain situations. The purpose of this study is: 1) to develop a model to accurately simulate the effects of excess electricity generation from renewables which would arise during the transition, and 2) to propose strategies to manage excess electricity generation through effective utilization of domestic electricity generating capabilities. Our results show that in periods of greater PV and wind power, namely the spring and fall seasons, the frequency of excess electricity generation increases, while electricity demand decreases. This being the case, flexible operation of coal and nuclear power plants along with LNG and pumped-storage hydroelectricity can be used to counterbalance the excess electricity generation from renewables. In addition, nuclear energy plays an important role in reducing CO₂ emissions and electricity costs unlike the fossil fuel-based generation sources outlined in the 8th Basic Plan.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.729-751
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• 2005

RPS(Renewable Portfolio Standards) is an institutional device to promote use of renewable energy through market mechanism by making renewable energy to constitute a pre-announced portion of the electricity production. We measure economic impacts of the introduction of RPS to domestic electricity market at the levels of electricity market, individual industrial sectors and the economy as a whole. First, we examine the TREC(Tradable Renewable Energy Credits) market, where the credits in excess of the obligation of the renewable energy production are sold to those who have to meet the obligation through purchased credits. We then measure end-users' additional cost originating from the introduction of RPS and TREC in electricity production, and their impacts on price and supply in the retail electricity market. Next, using input-output analysis, we measure economic impacts of the changes in retail price and supply on individual industrial sectors and the economy as a whole. Among many others, we find small price effect and large GDP effect - sectoral electricity price rises at around 5%, sectoral price level rises by 0.258%, and sectoral GDP declines by 1.940% on average by the year 2011.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2020

According to the Korean Renewable Energy 3020 Implementation Plan, the installation capacity of renewable energy is expected to increase whereas technology for storing excess electricity and stabilizing the power supply of renewable energy sources is extremely required. Power-to-Gas is one of energy storage technologies where electricity is converted into gas fuel such as hydrogen and methane. Basically, Power-to-Gas system could be effectively utilized to store excess electricity generated by an imbalance between supply and demand. In this study, the economic feasibility analysis of Power-to-Gas reflecting the domestic situation was carried out. Total revenue requirement method was utilized to estimate the levelized cost of hydrogen. Validation on the economic analysis method in this study was conducted by comparison of the result, which is published by the International Energy Agency. The levelized cost of hydrogen of a 100-MW Power-to-Gas system reflecting the current economic status in Korea is 8,344 won kg^-1. The sensitivity analysis was carried out, applying the main analysis economic factors such as electricity cost, electrolyser cost, and operating year. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the conditions for economic feasibility were suggested by comparing the cost of producing hydrogen using renewable energy with the cost of producing natural gas reformed hydrogen with carbon capture and storage.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.182-192
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• 2022

This study provides an overview of the production costs of methane and hydrogen via water electrolysis-based hydrogen production followed by a methanation based methane production technology utilizing CO₂ from external sources. The study shows a comparative way for economic optimization of green methane generation using excess free electricity from renewable sources. The study initially developed the overall process on the Aspen Plus simulation tool. Aspen Plus estimated the capital expenditure for most of the equipment except for the methanation reactor and electrolyzer. The capital expenditure, the operating expenditure and the feed cost were used in a discounted cash flow based economic model for the methane production cost estimation. The study compared different reactor configurations as well. The same model was also used for a hydrogen production cost estimation. The optimized economic model estimated a methane production cost of $11.22/mcf when the plant is operating for 4000 hr/year and electricity is available for zero cost. Furthermore, a hydrogen production cost of $2.45/GJ was obtained. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the methane production cost as the electrolyzer cost varies across different electrolyzer types. A sensitivity study was also performed for the changing electricity cost, the number of operation hours per year and the plant capacity. The estimated levelized cost of methane (LCOM) in this study was less than or comparable with the existing studies available in the literature.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2023

This study shows the summary of the economic performance of excess electricity conversion to hydrogen as well as methane and returned conversion to electricity using a fuel cell. The methane production process has been examined in a previous study. Here, this study focuses on the conversion of methane to electricity. As a part of this study, capital expenditure (CAPEX) is estimated under various sized plants (0.3, 3, 9, and 30 MW). The study shows a method for economic optimization of electricity generation using a fuel cell. The CAPEX and operating expenditure (OPEX) as well as the feed cost are used to calculate the discounted cash flow. Then the levelized cost of returned electricity (LCORE) is estimated from the discounted cash flow. This study found the LCORE value was ¢10.2/kWh electricity when a 9 MW electricity generating fuel cell was used. A methane production plant size of 1,500 Nm³/hr, a methane production cost of $11.47/mcf, a storage cost of $1/mcf, and a fuel cell efficiency of 54% were used as a baseline. A sensitivity analysis was performed by varying the storage cost, fuel cell efficiency, and excess electricity cost by ±20%, and fuel cell efficiency was found as the most dominating parameter in terms of the LCORE sensitivity. Therefore, for the best cost-performance, fuel cell manufacturing and efficiency need to be carefully evaluated. This study provides a general guideline for cost performance comparison with LCORE.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2015

Global environmental concerns and the ever increasing need of energy, coupled with steady progress in renewable energy technologies, are opening up new opportunities for utilization of renewable energy resources. Distributed electricity generation is a suitable option for sustainable development thanks to the load management benefits and the opportunity to provide electricity to remote areas. Solar energy being easy to harness, non-polluting and never ending is one of the best renewable energy sources for electricity generation in present and future time. Due to the random and intermittent nature of solar source, PV plants require the adoption of an energy storage and management system to compensate fluctuations and to meet the energy demand during night hours. This paper presents an efficient, economic and technical model for the design of a MPPT based grid connected PV with battery storage and management system. This system satisfies the energy demand through the PV based battery energy storage system. The aim is to present PV-BES system design and management strategy to maximize the system performance and economic profitability. PV-BES (photovoltaic based battery energy storage) system is operated in different modes to verify the system feasibility. In case of excess energy (mode 1), Li-ion batteries are charged using CC-CV mechanism effectively controlled by fuzzy logic based PID control system whereas during the time of insufficient power from PV system (mode 2), batteries are used as backup to compensate the power shortage at load and likewise other modes for different scenarios. This operational mode change in PV-BES system is implemented by State flow chart technique based on SOC, DC bus voltages and solar Irradiance. Performance of the proposed PV-BES system is verified by some simulations study. Simulation results showed that proposed system can overcome the disturbance of external environmental changes, and controls the energy flow in efficient and economical way.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.559-564
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• 2014

The development of photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) technology has been introduced in recent years specifically to increase PV efficiency. One of the characteristics of PV systems is that the electricity generation increases as the solar radiation increases whereas the efficiency decreases because of high surface temperatures. Using a photovoltaic-thermal system, the surface temperature can be decreased by capturing the excess heat and the efficiency can be increased due to these characteristics. In this paper, three cases are introduced : 1) PV_r as the reference case, 2) PVT_a, which uses air as a heat source, and 3) PVT_w, which uses water as a heat source. Experiments were performed, analyzed, and compared to examine the effect of the PVT type on the efficiency of the system. The results showed that ETC($%/^{\circ}C$) efficiency of the PVT cases was increased versus the reference case due to decreasing surface temperature. Total efficiencies, which are electrical efficiency and thermal efficiency, for each PVT are tested and found to be 12.22% for PV_r, 29.50% for PVT_a, and 68.74% for PVT_w.