Articles & Issues
- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received October 29, 2024
Revised January 23, 2025
Accepted February 8, 2025
Available online July 25, 2025
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Life Cycle-Based Strategy and Feasibility of Surplus-to-X-to-Electricity on Domestic Surplus Utilization in the Republic of Korea
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00417-0
Abstract
Energy transition has played a core role in addressing environmental issues in recent generations. Continuous fossil fuel
consumption has caused a large amount of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which is a primary reason for climate
change. Many countries argue that renewable energy can become a bridge to reach a low-carbon energy economy; however,
its ability varies depending on geographical features. Particularly, although the Republic of Korea aims for a low-carbon
energy economy by utilizing renewable electricity, it is geographically limited to installing large renewable energy farms;
thus, new strategies for low-carbon energy resources are essential to refl ect Korea’s regional characteristics. Jeju Island in
the Republic of Korea has a large capacity of wind farms, but their power generation is often stopped due to oversupply than
demand, resulting in frequent curtailment and substantial excessive energy. In line with this situation, a new idea on domestic
surplus utilization emerges to overcome both the energy losses on Jeju Island and clean energy needs in Korean land. This
research analyzes the strategy of surplus-to-X-to-electricity on domestic surplus utilization in the environmental and economic
aspects. Clean H 2 is produced via water electrolysis using surplus electricity on Jeju Island and then transported to
Korean land in the form of H 2 carriers. After being imported into land, they are consumed for power generation through a fuel
cell system. Throughout its overall phases, its economic and environmental feasibility is explored based on diverse scenarios
of H 2 carrier forms and transportation distances. As a result, given that governmental incentives regarding the environment
and clean energy are applied, an NH 3 -based strategy can become feasible in both economic and environmental criteria.

