• 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.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.25-29
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• 2008

Economic assessment of solar thermal power generation systems was carried out by calculating the levelized electricity cost. Four different commercial (or near commercial) solar thermal power systems (parabolic trough system, power tower system with saturated steam, power tower system with molten salts, and dish-stilting system) were considered for assessment. The assessment also included sensitivity analysis covering the effects of system capacity, direct normal insolation, and the system efficiency.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.17 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

We estimated the price range of electricity transactions under the prosumer system, considering the spread of renewable energy and the prospect of introducing a surplus power trading system between power consumers in Korea. The range (min/max) of power transaction prices was estimated by prosumers and consumers who could purchase electricity from utilities if needed. It is assumed that utilities purchased electricity from prosumers and consumers under a Time-of-Use (TOU) rate, trading at a monthly price. The range of available transaction prices according to the amount of power purchased from utilities and the amount of transaction power was also estimated. The price range that can be traded is expected to vary depending on variables such as the TOU rate, purchased and surplus power, levelized cost of electricity, etc.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.363-369
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• 2018

This paper considers the alternative way to mitigate cost for REC instead of Photovoltaic (PV) panels with Energy Storage System (ESS). This study starts from an economic analysis of a 1 megawatt PV system without ESS. Several assumptions have been applied in consideration of the current domestic situation. Based on this result, the economic efficiency of PV with ESS improved. However, the reliance on government subsidies was very high. The alternative way to cover the fluctuation power from renewable energy was reviewed with economical and technical way. In case the natural gas engine applied to PV, the IRR and Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) can be improved without ESS. And if small amount of additional REC, the IRR can be improved up to investment level.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.646-653
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• 2012

We studied the economic evaluations on Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER)'s $CO_2$ capture process using dry sorbents, and compared the results with those of comparable technologies. Capital and operating costs of the $CO_2$ capture system for 500 MW coal fired power plant were estimated to determine the economic feasibility. LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy) and $CO_2$ capture cost appeared 32.46$/MWh and 28.15$/ton$CO_2$, respectively. The internal rate of return (IRR), the net present values (NPV), and the payback period (PBP), were calculated by assuming several variables. As the result of calculation, IRR of KIER's $CO_2$ capture system was 15%, NPV was calculated 6,631,000$, and PBP was 5.93 years at $50/t$CO_2$ of CER price. Consequently, this process can compete with other comparative processes using dry sorbents.