POSCO, First Global Steelmaker to Receive Approval for Wind Power Thick Plate Production Plant

Gwangyang Steelworks Heavy Plate Plant Approved as 'Renewable Energy Steel Factory' by DNV Denmark

Uniform Yield Strength Heavy Plate Products Certified for Wind Turbine Materials... Responding to Quality Improvement and Economic Design Demands

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] POSCO has been approved by DNV*, a prestigious professional certification body in the energy sector, as the first global steelmaker to operate a production plant for wind power steel plates.

In March, POSCO and DNV signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a cooperative system for wind power certification of steel products and began the certification process.

DNV conducted an intensive on-site audit and evaluation over approximately three months, focusing on the quality management system, production processes and equipment, product testing facilities, and related certifications of the Gwangyang Steelworks plate mill producing eco-friendly Greenable steel plates. In July, it approved the plant as a "renewable energy steel factory."

Additionally, the Gwangyang Steelworks’ plate product meeting the ‘EN-S355’ standard, which achieved uniform yield strength for the first time in the world, was certified as a "material for wind turbines."

POSCO’s uniform yield strength product is the first plate product certified by DNV as steel for renewable energy.

Recently, as wind towers have become larger, it has been common to increase plate thickness to support structural loads. However, POSCO’s uniform yield strength plate product for wind towers can maintain a strength of 355MPa up to a thickness of 100mm, enabling about a 3% reduction in steel usage when applied to wind towers of 10MW or more.

Previously, wind tower turbine designers were constrained to design based on yield strengths specified by thickness in European standard regulations. With this certification, a system has been established to incorporate POSCO’s plate products with uniform yield strength characteristics into structural design.

In particular, since the manufacturing cost difference compared to conventional standard steel is not significant, this provides a solution to respond to increased material demand due to wind turbine scaling and rising raw material prices, and is expected to meet the wind industry’s recent demand for reducing production costs per unit of power.

At the certification plaque awarding ceremony on the 26th, Park Eul-son, Head of Energy Shipbuilding Marketing at POSCO, stated, “We plan to establish a supply system for high-performance plate products for wind power, including those for substructures with enhanced performance besides towers,” adding, “We expect customers to reduce steel usage for towers and substructures by about 10% under the same design conditions in the future.”

The wind energy market has recently been growing rapidly at an average annual rate of about 6.6%, centered on offshore wind power.

POSCO plans to actively secure the rapidly increasing global offshore wind steel demand based on the technology and solution marketing demonstrated in the offshore plant market, while contributing to reducing customer carbon emissions through continuous development of eco-friendly customized steel.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr

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