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PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/Uldolmok Tidal Power Pilot Plant
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Uldolmok Tidal Power Pilot Plant
The Uldolmok tidal Power Pilot plant is a South Korean installation located in the Uldolmok or otherwise known Myeongnyang Strait. The Power plant was commissioned in 2009 by the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology with a capacity of 1 MW and then expanded in 2011 to a total of 1.5 MW. At the time future plans were drawn to expand the facility to 90 MW as early as 2013 and as late as 2020. Complications with local bridge infrastructure and more recent resource analysis appear to have delayed these plans potentially indefinitely.
The Uldolmok strait itself has an average current speed of 2.4 m/s to 3.5 m/s , peak speeds of up to 6.5 m/s with a 3-3.5 m water level difference across the channel operating on approximately 100 minutes cycles. The northern section of the strait near the Jindo bridge has a fairly consistent 20 - 25 m water depth while the southern section of the strait closer to the power plant can reach depths measures near 45 m resulting from a canyon created by sediment scouring due to the rapid currents.
The function of the power plant was later expanded to include testing berths for developing tidal energy technologies as part of the Korea Tidal Energy
Center (KTEC). See KTEC Uldolmok Test Site.
Additional Information
Project Status
Is the project actively being planned or is deployed in the water (active)? Or was the project canceled or completed (inactive)?
Active
Project Life Cycle
Project Progress through life cycle:
- Planned: Project has identified a deployment location and is preparing for deployment
- Operational: Project is deployed in the water and is active
- Completed: Project was previously deployed in the water
- Decommissioned: Installation has been fully removed in accordance with regulations
- Canceled: Project was canceled before being deployed in the water
Operational
Max Rated Power Capacity
The maximum amount of electricity that can be produced by project, based on available resources and device nameplate capacity.
1.5 MW
Operational Start Year
May 2009
Project Start Year
2009
Energy Resource
- Tidal
Project Scale
Full-scale
Grid Connectivity
Grid Connected
Waterbody
Myeongnyang Strait
Site Characteristics
Geographic characterization for the project location:
- Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land
- Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary
- Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water
- Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land
- River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water
Constricted Channel
Country
South Korea
Environmental Details
Last Modified
10 June 2025
Citation Formats
“Uldolmok Tidal Power Pilot Plant.” Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Uldolmok_Tidal_Power_Pilot_Plant. Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.
Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "Uldolmok Tidal Power Pilot Plant." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Uldolmok_Tidal_Power_Pilot_Plant.
