Annual Report 2018
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REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Jin-Hak Yi Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology

 

OVERVIEW

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) established the commercialization plan for ocean energy systems to contribute to the new national renewable policy to provide 20% of electricity from renewable sectors by 2030. To support this Ministry’s plan, many R&D projects are being carried out. Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) has been investigating small wave energy converters (WECs) of the oscillating water column (OWC) type integrated in breakwaters combined with an energy storage system (ESS) and connected to a micro-grid. The 300kW floating pendulum type WEC was grid-connected in 2018 and will be tested further. A tidal current and pumped hydropower combined energy conversion system has been developed and will be tested in the field in 2019. A 200 kW active-controlled tidal energy converter (TEC) was fabricated and tested onshore in 2018 and will be deployed in 2019.

Two open sea test sites for WECs and TECs are also being developed. Korea Wave Energy Test and Evaluation Centre (K-WETEC) managed by KRISO is now in its first phase of development (May 2016 - December 2019), and Korea Tidal Current Energy Centre (KTEC) established by Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) is under development (May 2017 – December 2022). A new international cooperation project between Korea and China was initiated to exchange technology development and utilization of ocean energy systems (2018-2020). As part of this project, the first China-Korea Symposium on Marine Energy was held in Zhoushan Campus, Zhejiang University with a technical visit to the test site for TECs on Zhairuoshan Island.