Hyundai Solar Power Plant

The Seosan reclaimed land turned into production base of renewable energy
Hyundai E&C conducted a reclamation project in Seosan with a sense of duty to expanding the country, which changed the map of the west coast of Korea. The Seosan photovoltaic (PV) power plant built on the reclaimed land is all the more meaningful in that Korea’s primary builder transformed the land that remained unused due to its high salinity for about two decades into a production base of eco-friendly renewable energy.
The Seosan PV power plant aims to produce a total of 65 megawatts (MW) with 185,724 units of 350-watt PV modules. A substation within the power plant steps up voltage to 154 kV so as to directly transmit power to the Anmyeon substation operated by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) through the country’s longest 13-kilometer high voltage underground transmission cable. Utilizing domesticmade equipment for key systems such as PV (Photovoltaics), ESS (Energy Storage System), GIS (Geographic Information System) and transformers, Hyundai E&C was in charge of conducting the entire process ranging from project development to EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and O&M (operation and maintenance), proving its capability to provide a total solution for solar energy generation.
The country’s single biggest PV power station suggests a new paradigm of the renewable energy industry. On the other hand, the construction site faced a bumpy road of building a 480-meter section of the 154 kV power transmission line, which links Nam-myeon in Taean-gun to Anmyeon Island under the sea. The underground excavation construction was designed to make the transmission cable pass from the surface of land through the ocean floor to the land surface of the other side. After extensive consultations regarding several drilling methods, the construction site chose to do horizontal directional drilling under the sea. It carried out a pilot shooting at the depth of up to 28 meters of a soft rock layer below the seabed and conducted nine steps of reaming operations, successfully digging a small-sized tunnel 1.1 meters in diameter.
Moreover, workers at the construction site often put their heads together to find effective ways to perform the project. As a result, they came up with innovative plans such as a change in an approach to building transmission cables within the power station from underground conduits to cable trays. The construction site also made continuous efforts for win-win cooperation with local residents. It sought seamless communication to discuss with relevant organizations on a constant basis as well as established a task force to take prompt and flexible actions to opinions of the local residents. In an aim to address their concerns over the claimed harmful impacts of electromagnetic waves on the area where the underground transmission cable goes through, the builder invited a relevant expert who measured the level of electromagnetic waves at a similar power plant in operation, and proved the harmlessness of the emitted electromagnetic waves to human bodies.
Hyundai E&C’s first PV power station built on the Seosan reclaimed land is considered a symbol of its spirit of challenge. Relevant departments at the headquarters, subcontractors and employees working for the project site made concerted efforts to successfully complete the construction of the Seosan PV power plant and established a bridgehead in winning future contracts to build power plants and expanding power plant development businesses.