• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.160-167
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• 2016

An energy storage system (ESS) is applied to increase the energy efficiency of large plants or buildings that consume much energy, to improve the power quality of power systems, and to stabilize renewable energy source such as photovoltaic or wind turbine. The ESS is composed of a power conditioning system (PCS) and an energy storage. The battery is used as the energy storage. The battery is needed to design and verify a hardware and control system of PCS. Usually, a battery simulator is used instead of a battery, which is costly and hard to manage. In this paper, the development of the battery simulator for performance verification of the MW-class PCS is described. The battery simulator simulates the charging and discharging characteristics of batteries to design and verify the hardware and control system of PCS.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.737-743
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• 2013

The small-scaled onsite generators such as photovoltaic power, wind power, biomass and fuel cell belong to decarbonization techniques. In general, these generators tend to be connected to utility systems, and they are called distributed generations (DGs) compared with conventional centralized power plants. However, DGs may impact on stabilization of utility systems, which gets utility into trouble. In order to reduce utility's burdens (e.g., investment for facilities reinforcement) and accelerate DG introduction, the advanced operation algorithms under the existing utility systems are urgently needed. This paper presents the advanced voltage regulation method in power systems since the sending voltage of voltage regulators has been played a decisive role restricting maximum installable DG capacity (MaxC_DG). For the proposed voltage regulation method, the difference from existing voltage regulation method is explained and the detailed concept is introduced in this paper. MaxC_DG estimation through case studies based on Korean model network verifies the superiority of the proposed method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2014

This paper describes an optimal configuration for multi-central inverters in a medium-voltage (MV) grid, which is suitable for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants. We theoretically analyze a proposed common-mode equivalent model for problems associated with multi-central transformerless-type three-phase full bridge(3-FB) PV inverters employing two-winding MV transformers. We propose a synchronized PWM control strategy to effectively reduce the common-mode voltages that may simultaneously occur. In addition, we propose that the existing 3-FB topology may also have the configuration of a multi-central inverter with a two-winding MV transformer by making a simple circuit modification. Simulation and experimental results of three 350kW PV inverters in a multi-central configuration verify the effectiveness of the proposed synchronization control strategy. The modified transformerless-type 3-FB topology for a multi-central PV inverter configuration is verified using an experimental prototype of a 100kW PV inverter.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.643-643
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• 2012

Increasing energy prices and growing concerns about global warming address the need to improve energy self-sufficiency in many industrial and municipal sectors. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are representative of energy-consuming facilities in Korea, accounting for 5% of national energy consumption. We present renewable energy technologies and energy self-sufficiency scenarios in a municipal WWTP ($30,000m^3d^{-1}$) located in Yongin, South Korea. By employing photovoltaics (PV, 135 kW), small hydropower turbine (10 kW), and thermal energy from treated effluent (25 RT: refrigeration ton) within the WWTP, a total of 142 tonne of oil equivalent (toe) of energy was estimated to be generated, accounting for $365ton\;CO_2\;yr^{-1}$ of greenhouse gas emission reduction. Core renewable technologies under consideration include 1) hybrid solar PV system consisting of fixed PV, dual-axis PV, and building integrated PV, 2) low-head small hydropower plant specifically designed for treated effluent, 3) effluent heat recovery system for heating and air conditioning. In addition to these core technologies, smart operation and management scheme will be presented for enhancing overall energy savings and distribution within the WWTP.

• Journal of Urban Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2019

Recently, interest in solar energy, which is the center of new government energy policy, is increasing. However, the focus is on mass production of solar power plants, and policies and related technologies for maintenance and management of existing installed PV modules are insufficient. In this study, we use UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to acquire RGB and infrared images, apply it to the structure-from-motion (SfM) based image analysis tool, model the three- And the position of the hot spot was monitored and coordinates were detected. As a result, it is possible to provide basic spatial information for maintenance of solar module by monitoring and position detection of hot-spot suspected solar cells by superimposing infrared image and RGB image based on unmanned aerial vehicle.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.996-1006
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• 2023

Renewable energy is promoted massively to overcome problems that fossil fuel power plants generate. One popular renewable energy type that offers easy installation is a photovoltaic (PV) system. However, the energy harvested through a PV system is not optimal because influenced by exposure to solar irradiance in the PV module, which is constantly changing caused by weather. The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique was developed to maximize the energy potential harvested from the PV system. This paper presents the MPPT technique, which is operated on a new high-gain voltage DC/DC converter that has never been tested before for the MPPT technique in PV systems. Fuzzy logic (FL) was used to operate the MPPT technique on the converter. Conventional and adaptive perturb and observe (P&O) techniques based on variables step size were also used to operate the MPPT. The performance generated by the FL algorithm outperformed conventional and variable step-size P&O. It is evident that the oscillation caused by the FL algorithm is more petite than variables step-size and conventional P&O. Furthermore, FL's tracking speed algorithm for tracking MPP is twice as fast as conventional P&O.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.28-36
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• 2018

Islands are supplied with power from diesel generation or from photovoltaic power generation, and problems with offshore environmental impacts (age deterioration, salt pollution), environmental pollution (exhaust gas, noise, dust) and power generation costs (installation, maintenance) have increasingly emerged. In 2016, the cost recovery rate was only 27%, and deficits reached 73% on 65 islands managed by KEPCO. In terms of deficits, the costs incurred in the power generation sector accounted for 91%, with the ratio of fixed costs at about 60%. Analysis suggests that operating costs can be reduced with an optimal power supply system that improves power generation efficiency and makes operating systems more efficient. Therefore, it is possible to simplify fuel transportation and facility maintenance, because one island integrates the power plants of remote islands, and offshore cable is used to supply power to the other islands. From the economic evaluations in this paper, an algorithm deciding offshore cable layout validity for an integrated power supply between adjacent islands is presented. Simulation results based on the proposed algorithm confirmed that an integrated power supply is economical for existing stand-alone operations on islands having diesel generation, low peak power, and near distances.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.579-587
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• 2016

To obtain a stable energy supply and manage PhotoVoltaic (PV) systems efficiently, satellite imagery methods are being developed to estimate the solar PV potential. This study analyzed trends in the use of satellite imagery in solar PV and solar irradiation estimation technology. The imaging technology is used to produce solar energy resource maps. The trend analysis showed that the level of solar PV technology in Korea is 30% below that of advanced countries. It is impossible to raise such low-level technologies to the levels of advanced countries quickly. Intensive research and development is the only way to achieve the 80% technology level of advanced countries. The information produced in this process can contribute to the management of solar power plants. A valid technology development strategy would be to obtain effective data that can be used for fieldwork. Such data can be produced by estimating solar irradiation very accurately with several-hundred-meter resolution using Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellites (COMS) and next-generation GEO-KOMPSAT 2A, developing core technologies for short- and medium-term irradiation prediction, and developing technologies for estimating the solar PV potential.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.15 no.1 s.45
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• pp.74-81
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• 2006

In this study, on the basis of an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and through a questionnaire on subjective preference and importance, various power supply systems were comprehensively compared with multiple decision criteria such as environmental, social, healthy, and economic viewpoints and then overall priority was assessed. When a decision-making problem is modelled by a hierarchy structure, the AHP method is regarded as a useful tool for extracting subjective opinions via the aforementioned questionnaire. Here, the overall preferences were obtained by linearly aggregating weighting vector and preference matrix. The energy systems such as nuclear, coal, and LNG power plants were selected because they took share over 90% of domestic electricity supply in Korea. Furthermore, wind power and photovoltaic solar systems were included as representative renewable energy systems in Korea. According to the results of this demonstration study, the following comprehensive comparison indicators were yielded: 1) weighting factors for 4 types of main criteria as well as for 11 types of sub-criteria; 2) preference valuation for 7 types of energy systems under consideration; 3) overall score for each energy systems.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 1996

Alkaline water electrolysis has been commercialized as the only large-scale method for a long time to produce hydrogen and the technology is superior to other methods such as photochemical, thermochemical water splitting, and thermal decomposition method in view of efficiency and related technical problem. However, such conventional electrolyzer do not have high electric efficiency and productivity to apply to large scale hydrogen production for energy or chemical feedstocks. Solid polymer electrolyte water electrolysis using a perfluorocation exchange membrane as an $H^+$ ion conductor is considered to be a promising method, because of capability for operating at high current densities and low cell voltages. So, this is a good technology for the storage of electricity generated by photovoltaic power plants, wind generators and other energy conversion systems. One of the most important R&D topics in electrolyser is how to minimize cell voltage and maximize current density in order to increase the productivity of the electrolyzer. A commercialized technology is the hot press method which the film type electrocatalyst is hot-pressed to soild polymer membrane in order to eliminate the contact resistance. Various technologies, electrocatalyst formed over Nafion membrane surface by means of nonelectrolytic plating process, porous sintered metal(titanium powder) or titanium mesh coated with electrocatalyst, have been studied for preparation of membrane-electrocatalyst composites. In this study some experiments have been conducted at a solid polymer electrolyte water electrolyzer, which consisted of single cell stack with an electrode area of $25cm^2$ in a unipolar arrangement using titanium mesh coated with electrocatalyst.