Woori Technology Selected for National Project on Core Technology Development of Floating Offshore Wind Power

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Woori Technology announced on the 14th that it has been selected for a national project to develop core technologies related to transportation and installation for floating offshore wind power demonstration, in collaboration with CGO, in which it invested last year.

For this research project, Woori Technology formed an industry-academic consortium with CGO, Korea National Oil Corporation, Seoul National University, and ACE E&T. Based on Woori Technology's successful experience in domesticating the nuclear power plant control and instrumentation system, a core technology of nuclear power plants, the company plans to develop a system that controls and monitors the transportation and installation processes of floating offshore wind power systems.

The technology developed in this research project is expected to be primarily applied to the approximately KRW 1.2 trillion, 200MW floating offshore wind power project promoted by Korea National Oil Corporation, and the company anticipates significant economic and technological ripple effects.

This national research project aims to enhance domestic technological competitiveness in response to the changing energy market demand from fixed offshore wind power near the coast to floating offshore wind power in the open sea. The project development period is about three years, with a total budget of KRW 6 billion.

While countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Portugal are actively conducting floating offshore wind power projects to harness abundant wind resources, there have been no cases of installing floating offshore wind power systems using domestic technology in Korea. The company explained that the need for core technologies for transportation and installation of floating bodies equipped with turbines of MW class or higher is emerging.

Additionally, this national project is linked to a government-supported research project worth KRW 20 billion aimed at demonstrating floating offshore wind power systems of 5MW class or higher. Through consultative bodies and technology exchanges between the projects, successful offshore installation and grid connection of floating offshore wind power systems are expected.

A company official stated, “The participation of CGO, which has experience in constructing Korea’s first commercial offshore wind power plant, and Korea National Oil Corporation, which is promoting floating offshore wind power projects, will create significant synergy effects. Through participation in this research project, Woori Technology will start developing a system that controls and monitors the transportation and installation processes of floating offshore wind power systems and will continuously develop core offshore equipment, aiming to become a clean energy specialized company encompassing both nuclear power and renewable energy sectors.”