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The flagship of Doosan Group, South Korea's oldest business conglomerate, has been investing 1 trillion won (US$862 million) in capturing wind energy and in other clean energy projects from 2004 to 2013, which also include coal gasification and biogas turbines. It has so far spent 300 billion won.
"We aim to generate about 1 trillion won, or 10 percent of our power generation unit's revenue, from the renewable energy sector in 2015," said Choe Seung-joo, Doosan Heavy's senior vice president.
Choe said the company's clean energy business is focused on wind turbines for power generation, noting it aims to enter the global top ten makers of wind power equipment suppliers by 2020 with annual revenues of 1 trillion won from wind power business only.
The company has developed a 3-megawatt wind turbine, the biggest in South Korea, and has been testing it since last September on this southern resort island of Jeju, called an "island of wind."
"We could begin turbine sales in domestic and overseas markets in 2012," Choe told United Press International at the Jeju wind power plant, noting that his company is now pushing for development of a bigger model of 8 megawatt.
"Doosan is lagging years behind the West in the development of wind turbines, but it will make all-out efforts to catch up with global players such as GE Energy," Choe said. Atlanta-based GE Energy entered wind power in 2002 when it bought Enron's wind assets and has 12,000 megawatts of wind power capacity installed.
In September, Doosan Heavy acquired Czech turbine company Skoda Power for US$670 million to become the fourth-largest power-plant equipment maker in the world and step up its wind power projects.
Doosan Heavy also plans to install offshore wind power-generating facilities in Jeju in 2012, and develop floating wind-turbine-generator plants in a longer project that can be installed in remote ocean locations.
Jeju's autonomous government has promised to support the installation of wind power plants on the island, part of efforts to cut back its consumption of fossil fuels. The island, which currently houses seven wind power plants, plans to increase its installed capacity to 500 megawatts by 2020, including 300 megawatts from maritime wind power.
Electricity from wind currently accounts for just 3.4 percent of power demand for the island's population of 560,000. "We aim to boost the figure to 20 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2050," said Kang Shik-cheol, an energy official in the local government.
Jeju has become the country's first user of the electric smart grid. The smart grid, called the "energy internet," allows electricity to be delivered from suppliers to consumers using digital technology, enabling the devices to communicate with the utility firms, which could save energy and reduce costs. It permits real-time monitoring of electricity demand and output.
Some energy experts are skeptical about the use of wind power, as there are problems with storage, scalability and remote transmission infrastructure. Global recession, cheap oil and government reluctance in pushing climate change rules could stall wind power development, they warn.
But Lee Ik-hyung, Doosan Heavy's vice president in charge of power plants, said he is confident that domestic and overseas markets for wind turbines will grow sharply, noting that power generating costs of wind plants are just 40 percent of solar plants.
"Toughening environmental regulations would provide us a great opportunity," Lee said, referring to worldwide curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.
Earlier this week, the South Korean government adopted the drastic target option of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below expected levels in 2020, or a 4 percent reduction from the 2005 level, despite strong protests from energy-intensive manufacturers.
As part of efforts to achieve this seemingly tough goal, the government plans to spend 107 trillion won (US$92 billion) until 2013 to develop alternative energy sources and eco-friendly automobiles.
"The government will offer direct subsidies for companies that invest in the renewable energy sector," Woo Ki-jong, secretary-general of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, in charge of the country's carbon-reduction projects, told UPI. The country plans to boost the use of renewable energy sources to 5 percent in 2011 and 9 percent in 2013, from 2.3 percent last year, he said.
Environmental Minister Lee Mannee called for local companies to make "bolder investment" to cut back emissions, describing this as an "irreversible" trend.
"Industries must be prepared to meet global environmental regulations. It's not a matter of choice but necessity," Lee said, speaking to UPI. "Companies now should invest in green for profit," Lee said, describing it as a "green ocean" beyond a "blue ocean."
In line with the government's policy, Doosan Heavy is also investing in biogas turbines, integrated gasification combined cycle power plants and carbon capture and storage technology.
A combined-cycle power plant employs more than one thermodynamic process to minimize energy loss, as most engines used in power generation are only able to use around 50 percent of the energy produced from fuel combustion.
"Coal-to-gasify plants that use low-quality low-priced coal would boost the country's national energy security because they can help cope with possible crude price hikes and supply disruptions," Lee said.
South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude importer, is vulnerable to rises in prices because it imports almost all of its crude requirements, more than 85 percent of which currently comes from the volatile Middle East.
Doosan Heavy's affiliate, Doosan Infracore, the country's biggest construction equipment maker, has also joined the conglomerate’s green projects, planning to produce fuel-saving hybrid excavators starting in 2011.
"Our hybrid excavators will cut oil consumption by 20 to 30 percent," said Jo Doo-yearn, chief technology officer. "We are investing in other technologies to boost fuel efficiency,” he said.
