South Korea is close to begin the production of gas turbine that is used for large-scale hybrid generation plants. When it does, it will be the fifth country in the world to produce its own gas turbine followed by the U.S., Germany, Japan, and Italy.
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction stated that it held a ceremony at its headquarters in Changwon to celebrate the final assembly of the first gas turbine for large-scale generation plants that it has been developing as part of a national project while receiving government support.
Manufacturing process is currently at 95% and Doosan is going to carry out in-house performance tests by end of this year. When every test is passed, South Korea will be the fifth country to have its own gas turbine technology followed by the U.S (GE), Germany (Siemens), Japan (MHPS), and Italy (Ansaldo).
Development of large-size gas turbine started in 2013 when Doosan showed initiative into South Korean Government’s national project on the development of South Korean gas turbine model. South Korean Government invested $50.2 million (60 billion KRW) while Doosan is investing $837 million (1 trillion KRW) into R&D cost. This project also had 21 South Korean universities, 4 government-supported research institutes, and 13 small and medium companies and medium-size companies participating.
Gas turbine (model name: DGT6-300H S1) developed by Doosan is a large-size gas turbine with 270MW output and at least 60% hybrid generation efficiency and it is comprised of 4,000 different parts. It has more than 450 gas turbine blades that cost about the price of a midsize car per blade.
“Gas turbine for generators requires advanced technologies based on jet engine of an aircraft and some of technologies such as technology that guarantees stability and durability even at a high temperature of 1,500°C that we have applied to DGT6-300H S1 are technologies that are even more advanced than technologies applied to jet engine of an aircraft.” said Director Lee Jong-wook of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s Central Research Center.
Doosan has applied ‘nickel-based alloy material technology’ that can withstand high temperature of at least 1,500°C, ‘precise forging technology’ that can produce parts for high temperature, ‘axial flow compressor technology’ that pressurizes large amount of air up to 1/24th, ‘combustor technology’ that minimizes exhaust gas, and ‘system integration technology’ that assembles key components such as compressor, combustor, and turbine.
DGT6-300H S1 model will be supplied to Korea Western Power for its 500MW CHP (Combined Heat & Power) generation plant in Gimpo and it will be used for commercial operation starting from 2023. Besides this model, Doosan is also developing a follow-up gas turbine model (380MW) with latest specifications and 100MW medium-size model to supplement intermittency that is seen as one of few weaknesses of new renewable energy generation.
There are currently 149 gas turbines that are actually used for operation in South Korea and they are all from foreign companies. It costs about $6.78 billion (8.1 trillion KRW) to purchase a gas turbine and it costs additional $3.52 billion (4.2 trillion KRW) for extra costs such as maintenance. New hybrid generation plants that need gas turbines are expected to be constructed as 18GW plants by 2030. When domestic gas turbines are used for these new hybrid generation plants, there will be about $8.37 billion (10 trillion KRW) of import substitution effect.
Through order-receiving activities, Doosan is planning to promote its gas turbine business as one of its key businesses that can create annual sales of $2.51 billion (3 trillion KRW) and requires at least 30,000 man-days.
“We have finally come a significant fruition.” said Chairman Park Ji-won of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. “Development of DGT6-300H S1 is also significant from a standpoint that it required participation from about 230 small and medium companies and medium-size companies.”
Staff Reporter Lee, Kyungmin | kmlee@etnews.com