Keystone Electric's Palos vessel completed the offshore cable laying, demonstrating superior performance.

The Palos vessel is laying export cables for the Yeonggwang Nagwol project.

Keystone Electric (CEO Song Jong-min) announced on the 15th that its subsea cable laying vessel, the 'PALOS', has successfully completed the laying of all export cables for the Yeonggwang Nagwol offshore wind farm project.

The Yeonggwang Nagwol offshore wind farm project is a large-scale undertaking to establish a power generation complex with a capacity of approximately 364.8MW in the waters near Songido Island, Nakwol-myeon, Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do. With a total project cost of 2.3 trillion KRW, it will generate enough electricity annually to power approximately 250,000 households once completed. The overall progress rate currently exceeds 50%.

This project is the first to utilize the Palos after Keystone Electric secured it, and the export cable laying was conducted in two phases. The first phase took place over approximately two weeks in mid-May, and the second phase began in late June and concluded last week. Keystone Electric plans to proceed with the laying of inter-array cables in July.

The Palos is a dedicated subsea cable laying vessel that Keystone Electric acquired in November 2023 to enhance its turnkey competitiveness, encompassing subsea cable production, transportation, construction, and maintenance. It is the only Cable Laying Vessel (CLV) in Korea, specifically built for subsea cable laying from the design stage. With its own propulsion, it can operate at speeds of up to 9 knots, making it 5 to 6 times faster than Cable Laying Barges (CLBs) that rely on tugboats for power, and it is stable against weather changes and currents.

Furthermore, it is a hybrid vessel capable of operating in either DP2 (Dynamic Positioning Class 2) mode, which automatically controls the vessel's position with high precision, or anchoring mode, which secures the vessel using anchors, depending on the situation. In deep waters requiring high-precision construction, the DP2 mode is used, while in shallow waters with less current influence, the anchoring mode is employed to conserve fuel, ensuring both efficiency and economic viability.

In addition, unlike conventional vessels, its flat-bottomed hull design allows it to enter very shallow waters independently, making it deployable in a wide range of marine environments. It is particularly evaluated for its optimal performance in the West Sea region, where water depths are low and currents are strong, posing significant laying challenges.

Keystone Electric stated that the Palos has successfully completed laying operations in the challenging West Sea region, demonstrating both stability and construction performance. The company anticipates creating diverse opportunities in future large-scale offshore wind projects and West Sea energy highway projects, leveraging its turnkey capabilities from production to construction.

Meanwhile, Keystone Electric completed the full construction of its Dangjin Subsea Cable Plant 1, capable of producing both internal and external cables for offshore wind, in June. In the second half of the year, the company plans to commence construction of Subsea Cable Plant 2, which will be able to produce 640kV HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) subsea cables and long-length export cables, thereby strengthening its production capacity to participate in the West Sea energy highway project.