• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.29-42
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• 2016

This study analyzes the economic efficiency of utilizing hot waste water at a thermoelectric power plant, which is part of recent projects supported by the Korean government to foster new energy industry. The author proposes an institution that provides economic incentives to promote the project. Based on a method of calculating Levelized cost of energy (LCOE), this study finds that the LCOE of using hot waste water at power plants is higher than that of oil boiler, biomass and a power plant's auxiliary steam but similar to that of the geothermal system. Also, according to sensitivity analysis on the LCOE of each element in the system of using hot waste water, a distance of heat supply is most sensitive. Therefore, this study shows that when the government devises an incentive-based institution to expand the project of utilizing hot waste water, it is necessary to establish Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) weights that are differentiated by a distance of heat supply.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2020

A study on estimation of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) was conducted for the Korean onshore wind farms. The LCOE was estimated on the basis of the actual wind farm data from Data Analysis, Retrieval Transfer system (DART) run by Financial Supervisory Service. Recently, social discount rate of Korea dropped from 5.5% to 4.5%, which was taken into account for this study. The onshore wind farms studied accounted for 42% of all the onshore wind farms of South Korea. Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and Operation Expenditure (OpEx) were calculated from the actual data, while Capacity Factors (CFs) were obtained from the wind farms of five provinces. Their distributions were estimated using Maximum Likelihood Estimation method, and then Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) was performed for estimating LCOE, Levelized Fixed Cost (LFC), and Levelized Variable Cost (LVC). As a result, the LCOEs at the two discount rates, 4.5 and 5.5%, were 142 and 152 $/MWh, respectively, which were lower than that of financially viable onshore wind project of Korea. The 1% drop of social discount rate was estimated to result in a 10 $/MWh decrease in LCOE and a 4 $/MWh in LFC, which can be an advantage for wind project investors.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.54-60
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• 2023

In order to reveal the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of Korean and foreign wind turbines, a study was conducted for Korean onshore wind farms. Actual CapEx and OpEx data were obtained from audit reports for 26 onshore wind farms corresponding to 53.87 percent of the total onshore wind farms in Korea in the Data Analysis, Retrieval Transfer (DART) system. In addition, capacity factor (CF) data were calculated from data provided by Statistics Korea. Random numbers were generated from distributions that were fitted by the datasets, which were used as input data to perform a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The levelized fixed cost (LFC) and the levelized variable cost (LVC) were calculated from distributions of the CapEx, the OpEx and the CF. As a result, the LCOEs of the analyzed total Korean wind farms, and Korean and foreign wind turbines were 147, 148, and 146 USD/MWh, respectively. The averaged LCOE of Korea was estimated to be 4 USD/MWh lower than that of Japan, while it was much higher than German and global averages.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.57-66
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• 2023

In order to understand the economic feasibility of an offshore wind farm, this paper analyzed the differences in LCOE (levelized cost of energy) according to the support type and construction method of the substructure in terms of LCOE and sensitivity analysis was conducted according to the main components of LCOE. As for the site to be studied, the Southwest Offshore Wind Farm was selected, and the capital expenditures were calculated according to the size of the offshore wind farm and the installation unit. As a result of the sensitivity analysis, major components showed high sensitivity to availability, turbine related cost, weighted average cost of capital and balance of system related cost. Moreover, the post-piling jacket method, which was representatively applied to the substructure of the offshore wind farm in Korea, was selected as a basic plan to calculate the capital expenditures, and then the capital expenditures of the pre-piling jacket method and the tripod method were calculated and compared. As a result of analyzing the LCOE, it was confirmed that the pre-piling jacket method of the supporting structure lowers the LCOE and improves economic feasibility as the installation number of turbines increases.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.23-29
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• 2012

LCOE of 11 Korean PV projects, total capacity of 44 MW, were calculated for each project being larger than 1 MW respectively. 9 out of 11 projects were constructed in 2008 under FIT scheme revealed that average LCOE is 600 Korean Won per kilowatt-hour and it becomes reduced to 348 Korean Won per kilowatt-hour for 2 projects that are constructed under RPS scheme in 2012. During the period between 2008 and 2012, installation cost per megawatt became 55% of 2008 value with operation and maintenance cost lowered to 80% while LCOE became only 58% due to reduced project size and lower irradiation for later projects. However, it is found that the ratio of LCOE / unit installation cost looks relatively constant, so that it can be used as an auxiliary parameter to gauge learning effect of BOS portion of a PV project.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2023

The commercialization has been of great importance to the clean energy research sector for investing the wind farm development, but it would be difficult to reach a social consensus on the need to expand the economic feasibility of renewable energy due to the lack of reliable and continuous information on levelized cost of Energy (LCOE). Regarding this fact, this paper presents the evaluation of LCOE, focusing on Ulsan offshore region targeting to build the first floating offshore wind farm. Energy production is estimated by the meteorology data combined with the Leanwind Project power curve of an exemplar wind turbine. This work aims to analyze the costs of the Capex depending on site-specific variables. The cost of final LCOE was estimated by using Monte-Carlo method, and it became an average range 297,090 KRW/MWh, a minimum of 251,080 KRW/MWh, and a maximum of 341,910 KRW/MWh. In the year 2021, the SMP (system marginal price) and 4.5 REC (renewable energy certificate) can be paid if 1 MWh of electricity is generated by renewable energy. Considering current SMP and REC price, the floating platform industry, which can earn around 502,000 KRW/MWh, can be finally estimated highly competitive in the Korean market.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.382-392
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• 2021

In recent years, floating offshore wind turbines have attracted more attention as a new renewable energy resource while bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines reach their limit of water depth. Various projects have been proposed with the rapid increase in installed floating wind power capacity, but the economic aspect remains as a biggest issue. To figure out sensible approaches for saving costs, a comparison analysis of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) between floating and bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines was carried out. The LCOE was reviewed from a social perspective and a cost breakdown and a literature review analysis were used to itemize the costs into its various components in each level of power plant and system integration. The results show that the highest proportion in capital expenditure of a floating offshore wind turbine results in the substructure part, which is the main difference from a bottom-fixed wind turbine. A floating offshore wind turbine was found to have several advantages over a bottom-fixed wind turbine. Although a similarity in operation and maintenance cost structure is revealed, a floating wind turbine still has the benefit of being able to be maintained at a seaport. After emphasizing the cost-reduction advantages of a floating wind turbine, its LCOE outlook is provided to give a brief overview in the following years. Finally, some estimated cost drivers, such as economics of scale, wind turbine rating, a floater with mooring system, and grid connection cost, are outlined as proposals for floating wind LCOE reduction.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.124-132
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• 2018

The Korean electric power supply plan was prepared by greatly enhancing the environmental and safety with considering the economical efficiency of the electric equipment, the impact on the environment and the public safety. As a result, the fossil energy-based power generation sector is accelerating the paradigm shift to eco-friendly energy such as solar power and wind. Also the solar power industry is expected to grow into a super large-sized industry by converging the energy storage and electric vehicle industry. Generally, a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is used to calculate the power generation cost for different generation power generation efficiency, operating cost, and life span. In this paper, we have studied the future research and development direction of photovoltaic technology development for the era of massive utilization of photovoltaic solar power, and have studied the LCOE of major countries including China, USA, Germany, Japan and Korea. Finally we have reviewed USA and Japan research programs to reduce the LCOE.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

Liquid air energy storage (LAES) using gas liquefaction has attracted considerable attention because of its mature technology, high energy density, few geographical constraints, and long life span. On the other hand, LAES has not yet been commercialized and is being developed recently. Therefore, few studies have performed an economic analysis of LAES. In this study, the levelized cost of electricity was calculated and compared with that of other energy storage systems. As a result, the levelized cost of electricity of LAES was $371/MWh. This is approximately $292/MWh, $159/MWh, $118/MWh, and $3/MWh less than that of the LiCd battery, VRFB battery, Lead-acid battery, and NaS battery. In addition, the cost was approximately $62/MWh and $195/MWh more than that of Fe-Cr flow battery and PHS. Sensitivity analysis of the levelized cost of electricity according to the main economic factors was performed, and economic uncertainty analysis was performed through a Monte-Carlo simulation. The cumulative probability curve showed the levelized cost of electricity of LAES, reflecting price fluctuations in the air compressor cost, electricity cost, and standing reserve hourly fee.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.10-17
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• 2011

Recently, electricity industry is facing high market uncertainty which has ever had and which increase risks in power market. In this study, we analyze risk factors such as discount rates, initial investment (overnight cost), plant factor, fuel cost, carbon price, etc, for the perspective of investor. For the analysis of risk factors, we used LCOE method. The results of this study show that renewable energy is more affected by plant factor and overnight cost than other risk factors. First, Renewable energy has higher proportion of overnight cost in the total investment than that of other technologies. Second, renewable energy is free of fuel cost and carbon price so plant factor is the most important factor, in other words, competitiveness of renewable energy depends on plant factor. Furthermore, we conducted economic feasibility of wind power and PV in domestic case study. The minimum requirement condition to get profitability is that plant factor 15% and overnight cost \6,000,000/kW and 26%, \2,200,000/kW for PV and Wind Power, respectively.