Doosan Heavy to supply equipment for wind turbine installation vessels
Owing to projected growth of global offshore wind power market, expect to secure orders for 100+ wind turbine installation vessels over next decade
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction announced on September 15th that it had signed a supplier agreement for racks & chords of wind turbine installation vessels with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). With the signing of this agreement, Doosan will be supplying a total of 156 racks & chords in the years leading up to 2023.
As key components of the jack-up legs used by wind turbine installation vessels, racks & chords are structures that require a high level of strength that is enough to withstand a maximum weight of approximately 37,250 tons, including the weight of the vessel and wind turbine. A rack & chord is 9 meters-long and weighs about 25 tons per unit. For the cogwheel-shaped rack component, 250 mm-thick special steels are used.
Doosan Heavy accomplished the feat of developing high-strength special material with high corrosion resistance and impact resistance that is suitable for application in seawaters of various salinity levels and low temperatures (-40℃), and ultimately obtained certification for the special material from an international shipbuilding certification body this past July.
Kiyong Na, CEO of Doosan Heavy’s Nuclear Business Group. He added, said:
“By leveraging Doosan Heavy’s competency and experience in developing and manufacturing special steels for power plants and marine vessels, we succeeded in locally manufacturing the racks & chords, which had formerly been imported from overseas. While establishing a stable supply of special steels for the shipbuilding industry, we plan to continuously expand our business in this area to meet the growing demand in this field.”
With the global offshore wind power market growing at a rapid pace, the demand for wind turbine installation vessels is also on the rise. According to VesselsValue, the UK-based leading market intelligence provider for the maritime & shipbuilding sector, it is forecast that approximately 100 or more wind turbine installation vessels will be needed over the next 10 years.
