© SCOTRA

Now it’s time to take a look at a Korean business bringing about changes in the global economy with some new ideas. 

Based on strong research and development and groundbreaking innovations, Korean companies have made remarkable achievements in various tech areas, including automobiles, display products and secondary batteries, over the past 30 years. To demonstrate the proud accomplishments and show promising business items for each industry, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has hosted the Korea Tech Show annually. This year’s event was held at COEX in southern Seoul for three days starting December 5. 

From this week, we’ll introduce some companies that stole the spotlight at the Korea Tech Show 2018, a showcase of industrial R&D and technologies. To start with, we’ll meet with SCOTRA, a provider of floating solar power generating facilities. Let’s hear from company president Lee Jong-mok. 

We entered the marine floating system market in 2004 by developing a float product called General Float needed to build yacht moorings. 

Currently, we’re in charge of a project that’s developing a floating solar power system to be built on the surface of the water. The five-year project worth 27 billion won or 24 million US dollars is joined by 15 institutions, including three government-supported research institutes, three universities and some small-and mid-sized firms. According to the state-run Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, which awarded this large-scale project, no small company has ever managed a project costing over 10 billion won. 

As Mr. Lee just said, SCOTRA is the first small company to lead such a massive government project. At the recent exhibition, the company showcased its technology of installing a solar or photovoltaic power generation system on seas or lakes. 

Starting with the development of a floating structure with its own technology, the firm has accumulated expertise as a major provider of marine floating systems and water leisure facilities in Korea. 

Many have probably seen or known solar panels mounted on rooftops, farmland or forest land. In fact, the vast majority of solar power generation systems have been built that way. 

But solar panels can also be installed on inland water like dams, reservoirs and lakes. Just 5-percent management of unused water surfaces for solar power generation is estimated to replace five nuclear power plants. 

The Korea Water Resources Corporation or K-water has been conducting systematic research for more than ten years on how to apply this technology to local dams. In 2012, we unveiled a floating photovoltaic or PV model for commercial use for the first time in the world and completed a 500-kilowatt floating PV system in Hapcheon Dam.

When thinking of solar energy generation, most people will be reminded of solar power plants constructed on farmland, fields or the roofs of buildings that receive plenty of sunlight. 

But solar power can also be generated on a body of water. That is, PV panels can be installed on the idle surface of the water in reservoirs, dams and wetlands to generate power from the clean energy source. 

According to a report released by the World Bank, there are more than 400-thousand square kilometers of man-made reservoirs in the world, and using just 1 percent of the available surface of those reservoirs is estimated to generate 400 gigawatts of energy. This is 400 times the amount of solar energy generated from land-based PV systems as of 2000. 

Moreover, floating solar facilities on the surface of dams used with hydroelectric power generation can enhance the efficiency of the existing hydropower plants, which can therefore be operated in a more flexible way. 

But generating solar energy on water requires advanced technology to install solar panels on a floating structure and fix it to a certain location by using a mooring system, which functions like an anchor. Development of a floating PV system was a welcome challenge to SCOTRA, since the company developed its own floating structure and also boasts the world’s best mooring technology. 

© SCOTRA

A floating structure on the water tends to swing, and it is necessary to prevent its free movement. That’s what our mooring device is for. Mooring lines are tied to the structure to fix its position when water levels reach the highest point. When water levels are low, the mooring lines become loose, making the buoyant body sway at the mercy of the wind. It is essential to minimize movement and keep the structure pointed directly at the sun so the solar panels on the structure can ensure the highest energy yield. This comprises a core mooring technology. 

Other than the floating solar power generation system, we’ve built some 1,200 floating structures. In the process, we’ve secured world-class mooring technology. 

The buoyant body and the mooring device are not the only elements of a floating PV system. It also requires salt-resistant materials that don’t harm the water environment as well as the technology to bind many panels as one to make them safe in spite of strong winds. 

To overcome these technological challenges, the company developed a corrosion-resistant material that would cause no environmental problem by applying its own processing technology to the alloy provided by Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO. It was also able to design floating equipment capable of withstanding powerful winds and waves. 

When Korea was hit by Typhoon Bolaven with a wind speed of 40 meters a second in August 2012, the company’s floating PV system in Hapcheon Dam sustained no damage. 

Armed with innovative technology, SCOTRA makes up 67 percent of the domestic floating solar facility market. Outside Korea, the company completed floating PV systems in Japan in 2016 and inked a contract for five dams in Taiwan this year. 

The Korea Water Resources Corporation has built floating PV systems in three local dams, and SCOTRA won the orders for all three systems. It is the only Korean company that has secured orders from overseas as well. 

Taiwan, like Korea, is sensitive about water in dams, because it is used for drinking water. To provide our system to Taiwanese dams, we took various factors into consideration, such as drinking water standards, construction methods and water level fluctuations. 

In the case of Hapcheon Dam in Korea, the difference between the rise and fall of the water reaches a staggering 39 meters. By comparison, the sea level change of the West Sea ranges around nine meters during the ebb and flow, while the South Sea has a tidal range of three to four meters. Many are wondering whether floating facilities are really safe in the face of wide water level differences.  

A Taiwanese company had similar safety concerns over floating PV systems, until the head of the company came to see our system himself and made a decision on the spot. 

SCOTRA is the only company in the world that has installed floating PV systems in dams. Thanks to this unique experience, the company was able to advance into the Taiwanese floating PV market, beating its rivals from Japan and China. That’s not the end, though. The company will continue to develop new technologies and explore many more overseas markets to achieve its goal of becoming a global leader in this area. 

To us, water is more familiar than land. Actually, data shows that water is safer than the ground, as far as the solar power generation system is concerned. Other than this system, we hope to build houses on the water to form a floating town and even a floating city. This is my biggest, lifelong dream. We’re the number one player in the Korean market now, and we wish to grow into one of the top firms in the global market, too. 

The company’s name derives from the British merchant vessel Scotra, which discovered a submerged rock in 1900. The reef turned out to be Ieo-do, an undersea islet south of Jeju Island. The fantasy island appears in the legends of Jeju. 

Just like the British ship that proved the existence of the legendary island, SCOTRA has an ambitious goal of building something on the water and letting the world know about that. To this end, the company is never afraid of failure but continues to take up new challenges. We’re looking forward to a new floating world created by the company.