The commitment to offshore wind is just part of South Korea’s Green New Deal, which was announced in July 2020. This plan seeks to move the country on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050.
As part of it, South Korea wants to have 12 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. However, offshore wind capacity is only currently about 125 MW, and total offshore and onshore capacity is 2 GW, or about 0.5% of the nation’s current power capacity, IHS Markit data show.
But deals signed with several companies to start construction of offshore wind farms means that Korea will have no difficulties in achieving its goals and should actually surpass them.
Equinor is the latest, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean East-West Power (EWP) to cooperate on 3 GW of offshore wind projects in South Korea.
Equinor is operator of the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland (30MW) and currently constructing the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm under development, Hywind Tampen (88 MW), both in the North Sea. While both these wind farms apply the Hywind technology, Equinor will use the Wind Semi for its projects in South Korea as this technology has been developed specifically for Korean waters and local conditions.
Together the partners will contribute significantly to the Korea’s ongoing energy transition and development of an offshore wind industry in Korea.
According to Equinor, its partnership with EWP, one of Korea’s state-owned power generation companies (Gencos), provides a strong basis for the offshore wind major to take a leading role in developing a pipeline of offshore wind projects needed.
“South Korea aims to become one of the leading global markets for offshore wind in the next decade. Together with EWP, we are ready to contribute to the country’s plans, in the short and the long-term. We want to develop the first commercial floating offshore wind farm in South Korea. We have worked with the Korean supply chain for many years and know its qualities and capabilities. We see a big potential to leverage our experience in building a new industry together with Korea’s world-class supply chain,” said Pål Eitrheim, executive vice president in Renewables in Equinor.
The MoU between Equinor and EWP confirms Equinor’s strategy of accelerating profitable growth in renewables by creating value from early access at scale in attractive markets, in collaboration with partners that share its vision and goals. Given the Korean coastal water depths, floating solutions are required to realise the South Korean Government’s renewables ambitions. Equinor will bring its decades of floating wind experience and offshore technology to the partnership, including O&M expertise.
