• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.235-245
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• 2023

Techno-economic analyses on a 5-MW water electrolysis system for hydrogen production, operated in Jeju Island where the portion of renewable energy in the power grid is the highest in Korea, have been performed. The cost of hydrogen production and the economic feasibility of the hydrogen production system have been mainly analyzed based on the levelized-cost-of-hydrogen model. The effects of carbon emission trading and renewable power purchase method have been considered to reduce the cost of green hydrogen production in the case studies. This economic analysis model is expected to be used to derive a business model for green hydrogen production.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.121-146
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• 2016

This study is concerned with the analysis of two renewable technologies for electric energy production: wind energy and photovoltaic energy. The two technologies were assessed and compared by economic point of view, by using selected indicators characterized by a clear calculation approach, requirement of information easy to be collected, clear, but even complete, interpretation of results. The used economic indicators are Levelized Cost of Energy, $CO_2$ abatement cost and fossil fuel saving specific cost; these last two specifically aimed at evaluating the different capabilities that renewable technologies have to cut down direct $CO_2$ emissions and to avoid fossil fuel extraction. The two technologies were compared also from the environmental point of view by applying Life Cycle Assessment approach and using the environmental impact categories from the Eco-indicator'95 method. The economic analysis was developed by taking into account different energy system sizes and different geographic areas in order to compare different European conditions (Italy, Germany and Denmark) in term of renewable resource availability and market trend. The environmental analysis was developed comparing two particular types of PV and wind plants, respectively residential and micro-wind turbine, located in Italy. According to the three calculated economic indicators, the wind energy emerged as more favorable than PV energy. From the environmental point of view, both the technologies are able to provide savings for almost all the considered environmental impact categories. The proposed approach, based on the use of economic and environmental indicators may be useful in supporting the policies and the decision making procedures concerned with the promotion and use of renewables, in reference to the specific geographic, economic and temporal conditions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.402-405
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• 2008

SunPower's corporate mission is to reduce the installed cost of solar electricity 50% by 2012. As part of that mission, the company is continually exploring novel technologies that might enable progress towards the goal. This paper describes SunPower's efforts to decrease the levelized cost of electricity for solar power plants through the use of bifacial cell and system technology. The results of the first production run of SunPower bifacial cells and modules are presented. Future bifacial system development plans are reviewed.

• 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.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.61-71
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• 2023

The necessity of energy utilization using livestock manure has been proposed with the decrease in domestic agricultural land. Livestock manure solid fuel has been investigated as a promising energy resource owing to its convenient storage and use in agricultural and livestock fields. Additional electricity production is possible through the integration of a biomass combustion boiler with the organic Rankine cycle (ORC). In this study, a mathematical system model of the cattle manure solid fuel boiler integrated with the ORC was developed to analyze the components' performance under variable operating conditions. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to confirm the electrical efficiency of the ORC turbine and the applicability of this system. The minimum required waste heat recovery rate was derived considering the system marginal price and levelized cost of electricity of the ORC. The simulation results showed that, in Korea, more than 77.98% of waste heat recovery and utilization in ORC turbines is required to achieve economic feasibility through ORC application.

• Bulletin of the Korea Photovoltaic Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2017

전기차 보급의 확대에 따라 배터리의 사용연한 도래 시 폐배터리의 누적규모도 전기차 판매량에 비례하여 증가할 것으로 보인다. 국가 별 규제로 인해 배터리의 재활용(Recycle) 의무가 있는 자동차 제조사를 중심으로 폐배터리를 재사용(Battery Second Use: B2U)한 ESS(Energy Storage System) 제품을 출시하거나 이를 활용한 실증 과제를 운영 중에 있다. 전기차 배터리의 성능 보증 수준은 통상 초기용량의 80%로, 보증이 완료된 폐배터리를 낮은 가격으로 매입하여 ESS로 활용할 경우 초기용량의 60%까지 사용 후 폐기할 수 있다. 따라서 B2U 제품은 신규 배터리 셀을 사용하는 ESS 제품 대비 가격은 저렴하나, 20년 이상 사용하는 태양광 시스템과 연계 시 4~6회 교체가 필요하다. 이러한 배경에서 본 고에서는 가정용 태양광 시스템에 신규 배터리를 사용한 가정용 ESS 제품과 B2U ESS 제품 연계 시 에너지 균등화 비용(Levelized Cost of Energy: LCOE)을 비교하여 B2U 제품의 경제적 타당성을 추정한다.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.707-714
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• 2022

Hydrogen production using solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) is a promising technology because of its efficiency, cleanness, and scalability. Especially, high-power SOEC system has received a lot of attention from researchers. This study compared and analyzed the low-power and high-power SOEC system in term of economic. By using revenue requirement method, levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) was calculated for comparison. In addition, the sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the dependence of hydrogen cost on input variables. The results indicated that high-power SOEC system is superior to a low-power SOEC system. In the capital cost, the stack cost is dominant in both systems, but the electricity cost is the most contributed factor to the hydrogen cost. If the high-power SOEC system combines with a nuclear power plant, the hydrogen cost can reach 3.65 $/kg when the electricity cost is 3.28 ¢/kWh and the stack cost is assumed to be 574 $/kW.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.256-266
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• 2023

Hydrogen production can be classified based on the energy source, primary reactor type, and whether or not it emits carbon dioxide. Utilizing color representation proves to be an effective means of expressing these distinctive characteristics. Among the various clean hydrogen production techniques, there has been a growing interest in turquoise hydrogen production, which involves the decomposition of methane or other fossil fuels. This method offers advantages in terms of large-scale production and cost reduction through the sale of solid-carbon byproduct. In this study, an extensive literature review was conducted to select and analyze several promising candidates for turquoise hydrogen production processes. The efficiency and economics of these processes were evaluated using stream data reported in the literature sources. The findings indicate that the levelized cost of hydrogen production (LCOH) is significantly influenced by the sales of byproducts, specifically the solid-carbon and carbon monoxide byproducts.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.607-625
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to estimate the relationship between CO₂ emissions and both nuclear power and renewable energy generation, and compare the cost efficiencies of nuclear power and renewable energy generation in reducing CO₂ emissions in Korea. The results show that nuclear power and renewable energy generation should be increased by 1.344% and 7.874% to reduce CO₂ emissions by 1%, respectively. Using the estimated coefficients and the levelized costs of electricity by source including the external costs, if the current amount of electricity generation is one megawatt-hour, the range of generation cost of nuclear power generation to reduce 1% CO₂ emissions is $0.72~$1.49 depending on the level of external costs. In the case of renewable energy generation, the generation cost to reduce 1% CO₂ emissions is $6.49. That is, to mitigate 1% of CO₂ emissions at the total electricity generation of 353 million MWh in 2020 in Korea, the total generation costs range for nuclear power is $254 million~$526 million for the nuclear power, and the cost for renewable energy is $2.289 billion for renewable energy. Hence, we can conclude that, in Korea, nuclear power generation is more cost-efficient than renewable energy generation in mitigating CO₂ emissions, even with the external costs of nuclear power generation.