Equinor has announced plans to build the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm in South Korean waters.
The Norwegian energy giant has formed a consortium with Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and the Korean power company Korea East-West Power (EWP) to develop the Donghae 1 project off the coast of Ulsan.
The companies say they will carry out a feasibility study for the proposed 200 MW wind farm, to be located close to KNOC’s Donghae natural gas field.
The wind farm could use the Donghae 1 platform as a substation, Equinor said. Construction could start in 2022 and power production in 2024, it added.
“We are very pleased to be member of the partnership involved in realising the first floating offshore wind farm in Asia,” says Stephen Bull, senior vice president for the wind and low carbon cluster of New Energy Solutions in Equinor.
“If we succeed in realising the project, the Donghae floating offshore wind project will be the world’s biggest floating wind farm, more than twice the size of Hywind Tampen on the Norwegian continental shelf. A floating offshore wind farm of this size will help further increase the competitiveness of floating offshore wind power in the future,” added Bull.
Earlier this year Equinor and KNOC signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly examine opportunities to develop commercial-scale floating offshore wind projects in South Korea.
South Korea is pursuing a fundamental transition in the energy mix from nuclear and coal, to renewable energy. The proportion of renewable energy in power generation is set to increase to 20 per cent by 2030, which translates to a target of 49 GW of new renewable generation capacity by 2030.
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