It’s getting faster and cheaper to embed a wind tower the size of the Washington Monument into the sea floor.
South Korea is cutting the time it takes to construct and install an offshore turbine, from as long as three months to just a matter of days, thanks to a large flat-bottomed ship for hauling the structure and a "bucket suction” method for affixing it. The innovations could chop an estimated $3 million from the process.
State-owned utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) on Wednesday showcased what it says is the first vessel that can haul a fully constructed wind plant. A crane on the 1,500-ton ship, known as a multipurpose mobile base, or MMB, lifted a 140-meter-high wind tower built in the water near the western port of Gunsan. The MMB will travel to an offshore site on Friday for installation.