[C Tech Now] Similar to Offshore Plants... Korean Companies Aim to Capture Floating Offshore Wind Power

Anders Opedal, Chairman and CEO of Equinor, and Choi Sung-an, Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries, are taking a commemorative photo after agreeing on joint cooperation for the Firefly floating offshore wind project in June 2024. Photo by Equinor.

Offshore wind power shares similarities with offshore structure design and construction technology, as well as working environments at sea, which are comparable to those of offshore plants. This has attracted early interest from domestic shipbuilders. In particular, the floating structures used in floating offshore wind power resemble those used in the oil and gas industry. Floating wind power installations are anchored to the seabed with multiple mooring lines and anchors, similar to how oil platforms are moored. This is why domestic companies with long-standing know-how and experience in the offshore plant sector are increasingly partnering with floating offshore wind developers. These companies plan to leverage their domestic competitiveness to challenge the global floating offshore wind market.

Samsung Heavy Industries recently signed an exclusive supply agreement (PSA) with Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned energy company, for the production of floating substructures for wind power facilities and for marshaling (the integration work of towers and turbines). Equinor is currently targeting the award of the "Firefly Offshore Wind Project" being promoted in the East Sea.

This project involves installing 50 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 15 megawatts (MW), approximately 70 km off the coast of Ulsan, creating a floating offshore wind farm with a total capacity of 750 MW. If Equinor is selected as the project operator for Firefly, Samsung Heavy Industries will manufacture the substructures for the 50 floating offshore wind power facilities of 15 MW each to be deployed there. Samsung Heavy Industries, which developed an independent model for floating offshore wind power facilities, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Equinor in September 2022 and has been operating a regular consultative body to explore ways to expand cooperation.

SK Ecoplant signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May with Haewool Offshore Wind Power to collaborate on the production, transportation, and installation of substructures for the Haewool project.

The "Haewool Project" is a plan to establish a 1.5-gigawatt (GW) floating offshore wind farm in the eastern waters of Ulsan. Haewool Offshore Wind Power is the Ulsan offshore wind project corporation of CIP (Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), a global green energy investment management firm.

SK Ocean Plant, a subsidiary of SK Ecoplant, is strengthening cooperation in the manufacturing of floating bodies based on its offshore wind structure production technology and supply capabilities. SK Ocean Plant is establishing a specialized offshore wind structure production base covering 1.57 million square meters in Donghae-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gyeongnam Province, aiming for completion by the end of 2026.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering leased part of the yard and facilities at the Subic shipyard in the Philippines to produce offshore wind substructures. In April, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed an MOU with the Scottish Economic Development Agency to cooperate on floating offshore wind projects, planning to expand its offshore wind business through overseas production bases such as Subic.

Hanwha Ocean launched an offshore wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) in June, which was ordered in 2021 from the Danish offshore wind company Cadeler. This WTIV measures 148 meters in length and 56 meters in width, capable of carrying five large 15 MW offshore wind turbines at once and installing turbines at depths of up to 65 meters. Hanwha Ocean has previously delivered two WTIVs and is currently constructing two more.

HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding signed an MOU in June with U.S. floating offshore wind substructure companies Principle Power and WindFloat for mass production and assembly, agreeing to collaborate on engineering development.