Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC) has been selected as the main contractor on a project to develop an 8MW offshore wind turbine in South Korea.
Image: The DHIC-built Tamla offshore wind farm off the shores of Jeju. Photo: courtesy of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.
The 48-month long project, which is estimated to cost approximately KRW55bn ($49.3m), is sponsored by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP). Doosan is one of five firms being selected for the project.
Doosan, as main contractor, will be responsible for the design, manufacturing and demonstration of the 8MW turbine while Human Composites will manufacture the blades.
Additionally, Seil Engineering will deliver the machine’s lower sections; the Korea Institute of Material Science will be responsible for blade design support and testing; and the Seoul National University R&DB Foundation will device measures to reduce blade noise.
DHIC Power Service BG CEO Jinwon Mok said: “With this new development, we will be able to expand our wind power system lineup to 8MW from the current 3MW and 5MW lineup.
“The development of this model will help us aggressively penetrate the overseas wind power market, where the growing trend is for large scale models and it will also help increase the share of local supplier products in the Korean market, where foreign models currently account for more than half of the market share.”
The wind power system will be capable of generating up to 8MW of clean power at an average wind velocity of 10m/s. It will also have capacity to withstand even harsh conditions like 70 m/s winds, Doosan said.
According to the company, the turbine will be ideal for the South Korea’s environment, which frequently faces typhoons and low-speed winds.
The project is expected to contribute to South Korea’s 8th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, which aims to increase the installed wind power capacity to a total 17.7GW by 2030.