Doosan Heavy Industries said it will bring its 8MW offshore wind turbine to market by 2022 as it forged a pact with a South Korean power utility covering fixed and floating development.

Doosan Heavy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Korea South-East Power Company (KOEN) in another big step into offshore wind by the South Korean industrial group.

The two said they would cooperate to advance 2GW of wind KOEN is already developing and “development of megawatt-class floating offshore wind power systems and complexes”.

The partners will also work together on commercialisation of the 8MW machine Doosan Heavy is developing as leader of a government-backed project to create a domestic turbine contender for projects off its coasts.

Doosan said the turbine will be brought to market by 2022.

“This MoU should enable us to commercialise domestic offshore wind turbines by securing large-scale references.

“We will cooperate with KOEN to revitalise the wind power industry in Korea to keep ourselves aligned with the Korean government’s Green New Deal policy,” said Inwon Park, CEO of Doosan Heavy’s Plant EPC Business Group.

Analysts have questioned the technology gap between Doosan’s 8MW machine and the 13MW-plus turbines already being booked into global offshore wind projects around the world.

Doosan said its machine’s “differentiating feature will be the turbine blade, which is to be optimally designed to the maximum possible length for increased efficiency, and created in a way to suit the wind conditions in Korea”.

The Doosan 8MW turbine is set to use a blade longer than 90 metres, according to information on the company’s website.

For Doosan Heavy, attempts to carve out a significant position in offshore wind mark a return to an industry it walked away from in 2012, citing a lack of confidence that the sector would take off.

At that stage it was talking about launching a 6MW turbine by 2015 and building a turbine factory in Scotland.

But the company now finds itself as the only contender as national offshore wind equipment champion in South Korea after fellow giants Samsung and Hyundai left the turbine market.

Following its election win earlier this year, the government of President Moon Jae-in committed to building 12GW of offshore wind by 2030 as part of a 43 trillion won ($35bn) 'Green New Deal' plan to revive the economy post-Covid.

Wind

Doosan 8MW turbine 'by 2022' after offshore wind pact with power group