• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 2024

This study conducted an economic analysis of renewable heat energy by estimating the levelized cost of heat production (LCOH) of ST and GSHP and comparing it with the cost of alternative fuels. The LCOH of ST ranged from 396.8 KRW/kWh to 578.7 KRW/kWh (small-scale), 270.3 KRW/kWh to 393.3 KRW/kWh (large-scale), and 156.3 KRW/kWh to 220.7 KRW/kWh for GSHP. The economic feasibility of ST and GSHP was analyzed by comparing the calculated LCOH and the fuel costs such as gas and kerosene prices. Moreover, scenario analyses were conducted for installation subsidies under the current system to examine the changes in the economics of renewable thermal energy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05c
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• pp.441-446
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• 1996

A preliminary conceptual design of the DUPIC fuel fabrication plant with production capacity of 400 MTHE/yr is presented. Capital and operating costs are also included. The levelized unit fabrication cost (LUC) for a reference mode was estimated at $509/kgHE, and sensitivity of some variable parameters to this reference was analysed.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.228.2-228.2
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• 2010

In this work, the hydrogen production costs of the nuclear energy sources are estimated in the necessary input data on a Korean specific basis. G4-ECONS was appropriately modified to calculate the cost for hydrogen production of HTE process with Very High Temperature nuclear Reactor (VHTR) as a thermal energy source rather than the LUEC (Levelized Unit Electricity Cost). The general ground rules and assumptions follow G4-ECONS. Through a preliminary study of cost estimates, we wished to evaluate the economic potential for hydrogen produced from nuclear energy, and, in addition, to promptly estimate the hydrogen production costs for an updated input data for capital costs. The estimated costs presented in this paper show that hydrogen production by the VHTR could be competitive with current techniques of hydrogen production from fossil fuels if $CO_2$ capture and sequestration is required. Nuclear production of hydrogen would allow large-scale production of hydrogen at economic prices while avoiding the release of $CO_2$. Nuclear production of hydrogen could thus become the enabling technology for the hydrogen economy. The major factors that would affect the cost of hydrogen were also discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.1654-1666
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• 2024

The goal of this research is to propose a way to maximize small modular reactor (SMR) utilization to gain better market feasibility in support of carbon neutrality. For that purpose, a comprehensive tool was developed, combining off-design thermohydraulic models, economic objective models (levelized cost of electricity, annual profit), non-economic models (saved CO2), a parameter input sampling method (Latin hypercube sampling, LHS), and a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (Non-dominated Sorting Algorithm-2, NSGA2 method) for optimizing a SMR-combined heat and power cycle (CHP) system design. Considering multiple objectives, it was shown that NSGA2+LHS method can find better optimal solution sets with similar computational costs compared to a conventional weighted sum (WS) method. Out of multiple multi-objective optimal design configurations for a 105 MWe design generation rating, a chosen reference SMR-CHP system resulted in its levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) below $60/MWh for various heat prices, showing economic competitiveness for energy market conditions similar to South Korea. Examined economic feasibility may vary significantly based on CHP heat prices, and extensive consideration of the regional heat market may be required for SMR-CHP regional optimization. Nonetheless, with reasonable heat market prices (e.g. district heating prices comparable to those in Europe and Korea), SMR can still become highly competitive in the energy market if coupled with a CHP system.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.147-176
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• 2019

This paper uses research on the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) in South Korea to conduct a simulation analysis on the impact of nuclear power dependency and usage rates on the social costs of power generation. We compare the $7^{th}$ basic plan for long-term electricity supply and demand, which was designed to increase nuclear power generation, to the $8^{th}$ basic plan for long-term electricity supply and demand that decreased nuclear power generation and increased renewable energy generation in order to estimate changes in social costs and electricity rates according to the power generation mix. Our environmental generation mix simulation results indicate that social costs may increase by 22% within 10 years while direct generation cost and electricity rates based on generation and other production costs may increase by as much as 22% and 18%, respectively. Thus we confirm that the power generation mix from the $8^{th}$ basic plan for long-term electricity supply and demand compared to the $7^{th}$ plan increases social costs of generation, which include environmental external costs.

• 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.

• 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 the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.137-151
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• 2019

This study estimated the available renewable market potential based on Levelized Cost Of Electricity and then assessed the renewable derived energy self-sufficiency for the unit of local government in South Korea. To calculate energy self-sufficiency, 1 km gridded market renewable generation and local government scale of final energy consumption data were used based on the market costs and statistics for the recent three years. The results showed that the estimated renewable market potentials were 689 TWh (Install capacity 829 GW, 128 Mtoe), which can cover 120% of power consumption. 55% of municipalities can fully replace the existing energy consumption with renewable energy generation and the surplus generation can compensate for the rest area through electricity trade. However, it was confirmed that, currently, 47% of the local governments do not fully consider all renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and geothermal in establishing 100% renewable energy. The results of this study suggest that energy planning is decentralized, and this will greatly contribute to the establishment of power planning of local governments and close the information gap between the central government, the local governments, and the public.

• 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.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.367-391
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• 2013

After the Fukushima nuclear accident, the external costs of generating electricity from nuclear power plants such as additional safety compliance costs and possible accident risk action costs have gained increasing attention from the public, policy-makers and politicians. Consequently, estimates of the external costs of nuclear power are very deliberate issue that is at the center of the controversy in Korea. In this paper, we try to calculate the external costs associated with the safety of the nuclear power plants, particularly focusing on additional safety compliance costs and possible accident risk action costs. To estimate the possible accident risk action costs, we adopt the damages expectation approach that is very similar way from the external cost calculation of Japanese government after the Fukushima accident. In addition, to estimate additional safety compliance costs, we apply the levelized cost of generation method. Furthermore, we perform the sensitivity analysis to examine how much these social costs increase the electricity price rate. Estimation results of the additional security measure cost is 0.53Won/kWh ~ 0.80Won/kWh depending on the capacity factor, giving little change on the nuclear power generation cost. The estimates of possible accident risk action costs could be in the wide range depending on the different damages of the nuclear power accident, probability of the severe nuclear power accident and the capacity factor. The preliminary results show that it is 0.0025Won/kWh ~ 26.4188Won/kWh. After including those two external costs on the generation cost of a nuclear power plant, increasing rate of electricity price is 0.001%~10.0563% under the capacity factor from 70% to 90%. This paper tries to examine the external costs of nuclear power plants, so as to include it into the generation cost and the electricity price. This paper suggests one of the methodologies that we might internalize the nuclear power generations' external cost, including it into the internal generation cost.