KOREAN OCEAN WIND AMBITIONS IN SCOTLAND

Doosan’s bid to take offshore wind market by storm
Rikki Stancich, 24 March 2011 (Wind Energy Update)

"Korean energy equipment provider, Doosan Power Systems…[will] enter into the Scottish wind power business with investment of up to £170m over the next ten years [for an R&D center and assembly and manufacturing facilities], supported by Scottish Enterprise…[It is a strategy designed for Doosan] to break into the international offshore wind market…"

[Mark Garnett, Wind Power Group Director, Doosan:] “…If we can give the supply chain more confidence by investing and participating in the market, manufacturing volumes will increase, as will investment and confidence within the financial markets…We are coming to the end of the piloting and prototyping work for the WindDS3000 3MW machine…developed mainly for the Korean and Asian markets…Ten orders are going out this year in Korea and we expect to take more for next year…”

Doosan's ambitions are clear (click to enlarge)

[Mark Garnett, Wind Power Group Director, Doosan:] “The key [Doosan] focus is reliability…[as] boundaries are constantly pushed back. Achieving a balance between competitiveness and reliability is key…On the 6MW+ turbines…We expect to settle on a model specification next week and aim to have the pilot completed and installed by late 2013…We then plan to roll out 3-4 prototypes to demonstrate the models operating under different wind speed conditions, in different environments…Potential clients have expressed a desire to see two years worth of demonstration across several machines. We expect to have the commercial model ready by 2014-15."

[Mark Garnett, Wind Power Group Director, Doosan:] "The drive train has proven to be the most difficult decision to take [on the 6MW+ turbine], particularly from a marketing point of view. For the 2015 market, will it be a hybrid; a direct drive; or a gear-box? We don’t want to come out with the wrong transmission…We do have an opportunity to…accelerate deployment to market and…have the pilot ready by end of 2012. By taking this route we could bring the commercially available model to market by 2014. We’ll know within the next few weeks whether or not this is the route we’ll take."

There is no place better than Scotland for learning about offshore wind. (click to enlarge)

[Mark Garnett, Wind Power Group Director, Doosan:] "Initially the main [R&D] focus [in Scotland for the 6MW+ turbine] will be on the aerofoil/blade. Then we’ll look at the various drive train options…[and] where the market is most likely to go…The cost of electricity produced over the life of the plant will be a factor…The market is leaning toward direct drive but there are still opportunities for geared machines. We know what the issues are with gearboxes, and how to resolve these. Direct drive turbines on the other hand, are less well understood and may present unforeseen issues…"

[Mark Garnett, Wind Power Group Director, Doosan:] "Ultimately we aim to bring to our clients a ‘generating plant’ - where we treat the wind farm as a generating plant, rather than treating the farm as individual turbines. In this way will deliver a new level of control to our clients. Conventional power stations have distributed control systems; we want to do the same thing with wind…The Korean government is very keen to continue developing South Korea’s offshore wind potential, and our company is keen to be a part of that process."