Doosan Group to invest nearly $4 bn in SMR and next-gen energy biz

[Source: Doosan Group]

Doosan Group will invest 5 trillion won ($3.95 billion) over the next five years to develop small modular reactor (SMR), gas turbine and hydrogen fuel cell technologies, while strengthening its capabilities in new business areas such as semiconductor and co-robot.

Doosan Group announced on Wednesday it will use most of 5 trillion won investment in developing next-generation energy technologies including SMR, one of the three key pillars for the economic alliance between South Korea and the United States. As part of its efforts, Doosan Enerbility, a core energy and plant affiliate of Doosan Group, already forged a private sector partnership in SMR with U.S.-based nuclear reactor design firm NuScale Power through equity investment.

Under the partnership, NuScale will be responsible for reactor development and engineering, and Doosan Enerbility for manufacturing main reactor components, said an official from Doosan Enerbility. Doosan Enerbility plans to begin SMR production in the second half of next year and unveil its first commercial product in Idaho, USA. Doosan Enerbility is seeking its participation in the manufacturing and design of main components for X-energy’s SMR project in the U.S.

NuScale Power’s small modular nuclear reactor plant. [Photo by NuScale]

Doosan Group also will enhance its lineup of gas and hydrogen turbines, which are major components for future energy production. Doosan Enerbility became the fifth company in the world to successfully develop a 270MW industrial gas turbine and plans to further increase its power generation capacity. Doosan Enerbility has localized more than 90 percent of components in gas and hydrogen turbines, while building a turbine industry ecosystem with some 340 suppliers in Korea.

Doosan Group will diversify the applications of its hydrogen fuel cell technology based on its global leadership in commercialization. Doosan Fuel Cell, which already started developing hydrogen fuel cells for hydrogen buses, will advance into the market of hydrogen fuel cells for power generation in 2024 and for ships in 2025.

Doosan will increase new investment in semiconductor business for which it acquired Tesna in April with a mid- and long-term goal of making it as a dedicated service provider in the semiconductor back-end process based on cutting-edge packaging technology.

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