Doosan Heavy seeks growth through eco-friendly power plants, green energy

Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co., the world`s leading player in power generation and desalination facilities, is stepping up its efforts to tap green businesses.

"The crisis right now could be a blessing in disguise for us to find new business opportunities and make innovations," said Park Yong-sung, chairman of Doosan Heavy.

With major markets in recession and global financial markets in the doldrums, many companies have cut their investment for the future, as they focus on the immediate task of staying afloat.

However, Doosan plans to invest 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) this year, about the same amount as last year, to secure core technologies in the infrastructure support business, penetrate into new markets and establish a more efficient global promotion and sales network.

<**1>

The company will invest in green energy and environment-friendly businesses, such as fuel cells, wind power, carbon emissions management, environment-friendly power plants and water treatment, its officials said.



Water projects



Doosan`s Desalination Business Group has renamed itself to the Water Business Group, as the company seeks to broaden its business scope from desalination to water reuse, wastewater treatment and other water-related businesses.

The company, which is the world leader in seawater desalination, aims to capitalize on looming water supply problems across the world. The water treatment business is estimated to be worth $3.3 billion at present, but is forecast to grow 15 percent annually to reach $9.9 billion by 2015, company officials said.

In December, Doosan signed a general engineering service agreement with U.S.-based Carollo Engineers, one of the largest companies providing engineering services in water and wastewater treatment in the world.

With the deal, Doosan seeks to participate in biddings for large water treatment projects together with Carollo, and cooperate in all areas from design and engineering to construction, management, and services when processing projects.

Doosan hopes to win its first water treatment contract next year, eyeing a series of projects to be initiated in China, India and the Middle East.

Water treatment projects include processes to reclaim wastewater into high-quality water suitable for both industrial and public use.

"Through the agreement with Carollo, Doosan has secured a bridgehead to advance into the water treatment industry," Park Yoon-shik, senior vice president of Doosan`s water business group, said.

"Unlike seawater desalination, which is concentrated mostly in the Middle East, the water treatment market is worldwide from North America, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, India and China," he said.



Greening power plants



Doosan, while investing in the alternative energy business, also focuses on making conventional power plants more environment-friendly.

The company is the only company in Korea that specializes in power plants and has built hundreds of nuclear, thermal, and hydro power plants.

The company is leading the development of a next-generation power plant technology called the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle which creates gas from coal.

The IGCC is one of the four designated by the Korean government as the areas of high importance for its future energy strategy, because the IGCC power plants use less coal and produce much lower emissions of carbon dioxide than conventional power plants.



Doosan, along with Korea Western Power Corp., is currently carrying out the project to build a 300 megawatt-class power plant based on the IGCC technology.

Carbon capture and storage is another area that the company is investing heavily in.

Last September, Doosan bought a 15 percent stake in HTC of Canada, one of the four companies in the world that own the first technology for carbon capture and storage.

The technology is crucial for Doosan to penetrate into power markets in the United States and Europe, where a set of strict regulations regarding carbon emissions is set to take effect from 2013.

In the United Kingdom, Doosan Heavy`s subsidiary Doosan Babcock is leading a government-funded project called OxyCoal U.K. which is aimed at developing competitive oxyfuel technology suitable for full-scale plant applications.

The Oxyfuel process, which can be used in the capture of carbon dioxide, involves burning coal in a mixture of high-purity oxygen and recycled gas to produce a gas rich in carbon dioxide. The gas can then be purified and compressed for transportation and storage.

The company is also offering an upgrade of existing power plants, making them more eco-friendly and energy-efficient. For one, it has won a deal valued at 100 billion won to refurbish a power plant in the country with energy-efficient facilities.

The deal with Korea South East Power Co. calls on Doosan Heavy to design and install a fuel-saving boiler facility at the power station in Yeosu, 455 kilometers southwest of Seoul, by December 2011.

In 2006, Doosan Heavy signed a partnership deal with Foster Wheeler in the United States, a global leader in technology to build circulating fluidized-bed boilers that reduce fuel costs and emit less pollution.



Wind power and fuel cells



The company aims to complete by this June the development of a 3 megawatt-class power generation system for both onshore and offshore wind, named WinDS 3000TM.

At present, products with capacity classes of between 1.5 megawatt and 2.5 megawatt are the mainstream, accounting for more than 50 percent of the global supply of wind power facilities.

However, Doosan expects the demand for those of a 2.5 megawatt class and beyond will surge from next year.

Doosan aims to begin commercial production of WinDS 3000TM from 2010.

The company is also developing fuel cells, a type called the molten carbonate fuel cell, which is capable of producing electricity for 200 households, with the aim of commercialization by 2012.

Based on the technology, it aims to develop 1.2 megawatt-class fuel tells by 2014. Doosan is studying ways to utilize its technology in thermal power plants and desalination facilities in the fuel cell area.

By Lee Sun-young



(milaya@heraldm.com)