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| Doosan Heavy Industries' offshore wind turbines off Jeju Island / Courtesy of Doosan Heavy |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Doosan Heavy Industries was selected as the lead company for a state program to develop an 8 megawatt floating wind turbine, the largest output of its kind in Korea.
Industry watchers say the 5.5 billion won ($49.16 million) development is part of the government drive to nurture wind power as a significant energy source and help wean the nation off fossil fuels and nuclear power by producing a cost-efficient large output model.
The company said Friday that it will lead the 4-year program proposed by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), along with two other companies and two institutions.
Doosan Heavy will be in charge of the engineering, construction and commissioning, while Human Composites will supply blades and Seil Engineering will take care of the design. The Korea Institute of Materials Science and Seoul National University will support the design and test the blades to reduce noise.
According to Doosan, the turbine is projected to generate 8 megawatts of power at an average wind speed of 10 meters per second.
The turbine must retain at least 30 percent of its output at a wind speed of 6.5 meters per second as well as withstanding strong winds of 70 meters per second, making it suitable for the domestic environment with an average wind speed that is low but frequented by typhoons in the summer.
"Large-capacity models have advantages in costs for installing and linking to the electricity grid," a Doosan Heavy official said.
"Doosan Heavy currently produces 3 megawatt and 5.5 megawatt models," the official said. "The global offshore wind farm market is showing a preference for large capacity turbines and we can satisfy that market with the new model, as well as distributing localized turbines to the domestic market which is currently dominated by imported models."
Outlook rosy for domestic offshore wind farm.
In the Eighth Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand, Korea's basic roadmap for its electricity supply up to 2031, the government plans to raise its wind power capacity to 17.7 gigawatts by 2030 and 14 gigawatts of that will be generated by sea platforms.
For that, the government will rely on the country's municipalities to find and suggest proper locations for wind farms. A number of regions have already proposed their projects for hundred-megawatt level wind farms.
Offshore wind farms are expanding their share in global power generation and their importance is expected to increase even more. According to data gathered in 2017 from the Global Wind Energy Council, the installed wind power capacity globally will stand at 658 gigawatts by 2020 and reach 1,454 gigawatts by 2030.
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