Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, a key contractor in South Korea's energy industry, unveiled a home-made gas turbine for power generation. If a performance test will be done successfully by the end of this year, South Korea will become the world's fifth country to have gas turbine technology along with the United States, Germany, Japan and Italy.

At its main factory in the southern city of Changwon on Thursday, Doosan Heavy showed a final assembly event for DGT6-300H S1, a gas-fueled power gas turbine model which has been developed in a national project that cost some 1.06 trillion won ($890 million).

Engineers from dozens of private and state research groups have been involved in the project to develop and commercialize a home-made gas turbine because foreign companies were reluctant to transfer technology.

Doosan Heavy said that its gas turbine is a high-capacity, high-efficiency product with a combined power output of 270 MW that can provide electricity. It is 11.2 meters wide and 5.2 meters high and has 450 blades.

The home-made gas turbine will be supplied to a 500MW cogeneration power plant to be built in Gimpo for commercial operations in 2023. Doosan Heavy expects 10 trillion won in import substitution effect. All 149 gas turbines operating at power plants in South Korea are from overseas companies.

Gas turbines, which can utilize a variety of fuels, including natural gas, fuel oils and synthetic fuels, have become one of the most widely-used power generating technologies because they reduce the emission of fine dust and other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides.