Wavegarden, a Spain-based engineering company specialising in surfing lagoons, and Daewon Plus Construction, one of South Korea’s largest real estate and theme park developers, have signed an agreement to build the world’s largest man-made surf park in Turtle Island, located in Siheung in the Gyeonggi province of South Korea. The development is scheduled to open in 2020.

Constructed on a land reclaimed from the ocean, Turtle Island is set to be a new international waterfront destination with various facilities such as hotels, convention centres and marinas. It will also have a beach spanning almost 1 km.

The highlight of the €2.1 billion mixed-use development will be the Wavegarden Cove surfing lagoon. It is capable of producing up to 1,000 ocean-like waves per hour, which unfurl across a range of different surfing areas, said Wavegarden. Each area offers waves of different size and power specifically designed to provide ideal conditions for everyone, from professional surfers to beginners.

According to Wavegarden, there will be some challenges faced by the project, including specialised technological solutions for wave generation, water treatment and civil works. For this, the company will use state-of-the-art machinery to produce millions of waves per year and it is also designed to recover part of the energy used in the wave generation process to attain the lowest possible energy consumption.

The company further highlighted that the innovative water treatment system, developed specifically for wave lagoons, will keep the water transparent and clean throughout the year. Its intelligent design uses the energy of the waves to acquire the highest level of energy efficiency available nowadays for large recreational water bodies.