Economic and environmental benefits of optimized hybrid renewable energy generation systems at Jeju National University, South Korea

Abstract

In order to minimize the social and environmental concerns arising from the use of traditional energy resources such as fossil fuels and nuclear energy, the South Korean government has attempted to develop alternative energy resources. In particular, the large educational institutes and islands in South Korea—which have the motivation and potential to provide electrical services—are required to install renewable electricity generation facilities to reduce the burden on the local grid systems. With this trend, the current study investigates potential configurations of renewable electricity generation systems to supply the electrical demand of Jeju National University, located on the largest island in South Korea. The potential configurations suggested by the simulation results are evaluated by renewable fraction, cost of energy (COE), and total net present cost (NPC). The suggested configurations show a renewable fraction of 1.00 with COE of $0.356–$0.402 per kWh and NPC of $54,620,352–$51,795,040. Based on the results, both implications and limitations are examined.