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| A bird's-eye view of Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Daewoo E&C |
By Lee Kyung-min
Daewoo Engineering & Construction is fortifying its capabilities to become a global construction powerhouse, as enabled and underpinned by a strong track record from years of large construction projects involving infrastructure, energy plants and residential and multi-purpose buildings, the firm said Thursday.
The firm will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, a meaningful milestone in the Korean construction industry, as it seeks to elevate its standing on the global stage buttressed by advanced technologies and competent, thorough management.
Chief among the achievements is the 2011 construction of Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in Gyeonggi Province.
It became the world's largest tidal power installation, with a total power output capacity of 254 megawatts, surpassing the 240-megawatt Rance Tidal Power Station in France that had been the best of its kind globally for 45 years.
Tidal power generation is considered cheaper compared to methods using solar or wind power energy, and cleaner with a greater production capacity.
Volatilities in weather conditions pose little threat to maintaining production stability, another key advantage over solar power generation, due in large part to unpredictability in sun exposure forecast.
Of particular note is the structural safety of the tidal power plant, equally prioritized as limiting environmental damage, including marine pollution.
The firm's equipment uses a targeted precision method to minimize disruption to marine life, following repeated simulations to best factor in tidal fluctuations.
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| A bird's-eye view of Al Faw Breakwater in Iraq / Courtesy of Daewoo E&C |
The award-winning Al Faw Breakwater in Iraq is another feat referenced frequently by its global peers. A breakwater is a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves and storm surges.
The longest breakwater in the world won the top award presented last year by the Korean Society of Civil Engineers, an academic forum.
The firm spent 870 billion won ($614 million) to build the 15.5-kilometer installation from February 2014 to September 2020.
The breakwater is the first part of the Iraqi government's long-term master plan, defined as elevating the port as the world's 12th-largest by 2014.
Daewoo has since been able to ink construction orders of about 3 trillion won, laying grounds to win bids worth up to 48 trillion won in state-run construction projects in the years to come.
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