New Orders 'Stacking Up'... Doosan Heavy Accelerates Eco-Friendly Portfolio Restructuring

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction's Gas Turbine

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is rapidly reorganizing its portfolio by consecutively securing orders for eco-friendly energy projects such as hydrogen liquefaction plants and waste-to-energy (WtE) plants this year.

According to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction on the 21st, although one-time costs increased due to restructuring expenses including voluntary retirement in the third quarter, operating profit rose 23.6% year-on-year to 171.7 billion KRW, supported by new orders.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction's cumulative orders for the first three quarters of this year reached 2.57 trillion KRW, a 19.4% increase compared to 2.1484 trillion KRW in the same period last year. Up to the third quarter, Doosan secured orders for projects including the Gimpo combined heat and power plant, Boryeong Unit 4 eco-friendly improvement, and waste-to-energy (WtE) plants.

The most notable new order this year is the WtE project. WtE generates energy such as electricity by utilizing municipal waste, thus not using fossil fuels and reducing carbon dioxide emissions, making it an eco-friendly business. Especially in Europe, with stricter landfill restrictions, the WtE market is expected to steadily grow. In August, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction secured a 220.8 billion KRW EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract for a WtE plant in Poland, and in September, it also won a 119.2 billion KRW WtE EPC project in the Dinslaken area of Germany.

Moreover, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is leading the market by recently securing a 120 billion KRW EPC and maintenance contract for Korea’s first domestic hydrogen liquefaction plant. Hydrogen, a clean energy source, is liquefied at an ultra-low temperature of minus 253°C. Liquefied hydrogen reduces volume to 1/800th compared to gaseous hydrogen, making storage and transportation easier. Hydrogen refueling stations also require half the land area compared to gaseous methods, allowing integration with urban gas stations or LPG stations. This plant aims to produce 5 tons of liquefied hydrogen per day and is scheduled to be completed by 2022 on the site of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s Changwon factory in Changwon, Gyeongnam. The liquefied hydrogen produced through commercial operation starting in 2023 will be supplied to hydrogen refueling stations nationwide.

Additionally, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction secured a 400 billion KRW hydropower project in Nepal at the end of October. Accordingly, Doosan is responsible not only for manufacturing and supplying key equipment such as turbines and generators but also for constructing the power plant.

The industry expects that once gas turbines and wind power turbines, which are currently under accelerated development, are launched, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s new orders could increase further.

Since 2013, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has actively participated in the development of a Korean standard gas turbine model and succeeded last year in developing the world’s fifth and Korea’s first independent large-scale gas turbine model for power generation. From next year, a two-year gas turbine demonstration project will be conducted at the Gimpo combined heat and power plant.

With the government’s ‘Green New Deal’ policy accelerating the wind power market, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is also expecting future orders related to wind power. The domestic wind power generator market is projected to reach 28.5 billion USD (31.8 trillion KRW) by 2030, with turbines, the core components of generators, estimated at 14.3 billion USD (about 16 trillion KRW). Although all wind turbines were imported last year, Doosan is developing an 8 MW offshore wind turbine aiming for commercialization in 2022.

An industry official said, "Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s order performance this year is showing a favorable trend," adding, "As wind power becomes more active, Doosan’s order volume is expected to increase more rapidly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.