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Wind Power News: Korea
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission to provide information about industrial wind energy development to readers seeking such information. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the credited organizations or individuals and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
Turbine fire at Taiwanese offshore wind farm
Danish wind energy giant Ørsted has confirmed a wind turbine caught fire at its 583-megawatt (MW) Greater Changhua 4 offshore wind farm in Taiwan, though the exact cause of the fire is unknown and currently under investigation. Ørsted confirmed reports last week that a fire had broken out at a wind turbine at the Greater Changhua 4 wind farm on August 8. According to the company’s press release, the wind turbine “automatically tripped and ceased operation after its system detected . . . Complete story »
Offshore wind farm suffers its second turbine blade failure in two months
Danish offshore wind energy giant Ørsted has reported yet another incident involving damage to a turbine blade at the 583-megawatt (MW) Greater Changhua 4 offshore wind farm in Taiwan, the second in under two months. Ørsted confirmed an unspecified incident happened around noon on Friday to a turbine blade at its Greater Changhua 4 Wind Farm, off the coast of Taiwan. According to the announcement, no personnel were working on the turbine at the time of the incident and there . . . Complete story »
Ørsted sidelines Korea offshore wind projects as returns fail investment test
Orsted has sidelined its 1.4GW South Korean offshore wind projects as rising risks weaken the business case, the company told employees Tuesday. The Danish offshore wind giant owns seabed rights for 1.4GW of capacity in waters 70km west of Incheon hosting two separately licensed projects of 800MW and 600MW. “External factors developing over the past year have increased the risk profile of our Incheon projects, while the business case has weakened,” Orsted Asia-Pacific (APAC) chief executive Per Mejnert Kristensen told . . . Complete story »
Wind farm death after crane falls from cliff
A wind farm construction worker died after a crane fell from a road while working on a project in South Korea, local media reported. The man in his 40s was crushed by the 200-tonne crane which he was driving near the site of the project in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon province, said multiple local reports. The crane fell 40 metres from a narrow cliff road after attempting to avoid an oncoming vehicle, reported broadcaster KBS, which showed dramatic footage of the vehicle . . . Complete story »
3 dead in wind turbine fire in eastern coastal county
A fire broke out at a wind turbine in the eastern coastal county of Yeongdeok on Monday, leaving three workers dead, authorities said. The blaze began at around 1:11 p.m. at the turbine inside a wind power complex in the county, about 240 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to local fire authorities and the Gyeongbuk Provincial Poilce Agency. Three employees of a wind turbine company died in the blaze while reportedly on duty at the turbine site when the fire . . . Complete story »
20-year-old wind turbine collapses on road amid light winds
A harrowing accident occurred in Yeongdeok, on the eastern coast of Gyeongsangbuk-do, where a large wind turbine column collapsed and covered a road. The accident has blocked the road, making vehicle passage currently impossible. Wind speeds at the time of the accident were between 5 and 7 meters per second [11-16 mph]. A source from Yeongdeok County stated, “In collaboration with the police, we have decided to implement indefinite vehicle control on a 1.6 km section of the accident site . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine collapses at Hwasun’s Geumsungsan Plant
A nearby resident thought it ‘was an earthquake’. A wind turbine collapsed at the Geumsungsan Wind Power Plant in Hwasun-gun, Jeonnam. According to Hwasun-gun, around 2:50 a.m. on the 21st, one 4.7-megawatt (MW) wind turbine, installed along the ridge of Hwacheong Mountain in Uchi-ri, Doam-myeon, Hwasun-gun, broke at the middle pole and fell. There were no casualties as it occurred in a restricted area. The wind turbine that had the accident was the 11th of the 11 turbines in the . . . Complete story »
Korea’s Jeju Island increasingly has to curtail its renewables
Along the turquoise beaches of South Korea’s Jeju Island, hundreds of wind turbines spin as ferociously as the coastal wind. A few kilometers inland, large solar farms are hard at work converting the sun’s light into power. During periods of high wind, the wind farm receives notices to halt its power generation. This is to prevent excess influx of power into the grid, which could potentially compromise the stability of the system and create a blackout. Consequently, hundreds of wind . . . Complete story »
‘Fishermen kept in dark about tidal wind power plants’
The former Moon Jae-in administration withheld a government-commissioned study that warned of damage to the fisheries industry from the planned construction of tidal wind power plants, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday. The study by the Korea Energy Agency in March of last year concluded that the initiative of the former administration to build 68 such plants with a combined capacity of 15.6 gigawatts in coastal regions would significantly undermine the livelihoods of over 121,000 residents, according to Rep. Ku . . . Complete story »
Offshore wind farm plans face strong headwinds
Ambitious offshore wind farm projects in Korea are facing strong headwinds from local residents and the fishery industry citing the possible impact of the projects on the environment and fisheries. In a deadlock, both the energy and fishery industries are calling for the government to fill in regulatory loopholes in the process of obtaining consent from local residents. Korea has been deemed a promising market for offshore wind farms by energy companies both home and abroad amid the accelerating transition . . . Complete story »
