Hyundai Designs Semi-Submersible Floating Wind Turbine
South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries is the latest company among the shipbuilding industry to unveil designs for a prototype floating offshore wind turbine installation as the company seeks to enter the emerging market. The shipbuilder says that the concept incorporates innovative designs to speed installation and that it is now working with partners to verify the performance of the model after receiving an Approval in Principle (AiP) from the Korean Register.
The Korean Offshore Wind Power Floating Model developed by Hyundai is for a 10 MW class floating offshore wind turbine using a semi-submersible similar to that used for oil production systems. The design was developed to protect against the strong typhoons that hit South Korea’s east coast and also durable enough to withstand prolonged strong winds. They reported that the design is stable to produce electricity even in harsh sea conditions.
According to the shipbuilder, another important feature of the design is the ability to work on the floater and install the turbine while it is alongside the dock at the shipyard. The floater would then be towed in to position offshore. Hyundai says this will result in shorter construction times.
For the next phase of the development, Hyundai has formed a technical cooperating with Korean Registry and the Korean Ship & Offshore Plant Research Institute (KRISO). They will cooperate on the design and the model test performance verification process for the floating design and the project certification for the construction of the floaters.
In preparation for the creation of a floating offshore wind farm in Korea’s East Sea, the Korean Register of Shipping presented Hyundai with an AiP certification for the 10MW-class Korean-style floating wind turbine unique model.
Hyundai said it plans to build a close cooperation system with the domestic shipbuilding and offshore organizations to strengthen the competitiveness of Korean offshore wind turbines. In September 2020, Hyundai was entered into an agreement with the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) followed by n agreement in May 2021 with Ulsan City, Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea East-West Power, and Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology to demonstrate a 100MW green hydrogen project in connection with the floating offshore wind farm planned offshore at Ulsan. The East Sea project calls for building a 200 MW floating wind farm off Ulsan in South Korea close to the existing natural gas field which is scheduled to be phased out.
The Korean Green Deal calls for investing more than $42 billion to build a massive wind farm complex off the southwest coast of the country. Over the next decade, the government is targeting the development of a total of over eight gigawatts of wind-generated power as part of its plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.