S. Korea's first floating wind turbine to be installed next year

By Lim Chang-won Posted : August 2, 2018, 10:05 Updated : August 2, 2018, 10:05

[Courtesy of Mastek Heavy Industries]


SEOUL -- South Korea's first floating wind turbine will be installed off the southeastern port city of Ulsan for a test operation in the first half of next year in line with a government campaign to step up the use of wind, solar and other types of renewable energy.

Ulsan proposed a 16 billion won ($14.3 million) pilot project to build an 80-meter-long floating structure with a capacity of 750 kilowatts that would involve the Unversity of Ulsan, Seho Engineering and Mastek Heavy Industries.

If the first turbine performs well during a demonstration period, Ulsan plans to put a cluster of floating windpower turbines into commercial operation. Mayor Song Chul-ho has envisaged a 1.5 trillion won project to build 50 floating wind turbines by 2022, saying Ulsan has good business and environmental conditions for the construction of floating wind farms.
 
South Korea has mapped out a new energy roadmap calling for an injection of about $100 billion into renewable energy by 2030 to support President Moon Jae-in's campaign aimed at reducing the use of fossil and nuclear energy. About 60 percent of the state fund would be spent on installing solar panels.

The first turbine will be a semi-submersible platform. Fixed offshore wind farms are generally installed in shallow waters while floating wind turbines are located in deep waters where traditional bottom fixed installations are not suitable.

Commercial floating wind turbines are at the early phase of development. An operational floating wind farm commissioned in October 2017 off the coast of Scotland has five turbines with a total capacity of 30 MW.

Floating wind farms can reduce visual pollution, provide better accommodation for fishing and shipping lanes, and reach stronger and more consistent winds, but there is a limit to how far they can actually be from the coast.

There are two common types of engineered design for anchoring floating structures. Tension leg mooring systems have vertical tethers under tension providing large restoring moments in pitch and roll. Catenary mooring systems provide station–keeping for an offshore structure yet provide little stiffness at low tensions. A third form is the ballasted catenary configuration.
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