Equinor, Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and the Korean power company Korea East-West Power (EWP) have established a consortium to develop the floating offshore wind project Donghae 1 off Ulsan in South Korea.
The consortium is now starting the development of a 200MW floating wind farm, which will be located near to the KNOC-operated Donghae natural gas field off the coast of Ulsan in South Korea. It will also conduct a feasibility study for the wind farm, including use of the Donghae 1 platform as a substation for a possible wind farm.
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While waiting the results of the feasibility study, the consortium will begin the construction of a floating offshore wind farm in 2022, with potential power production start-up in 2024.
Commenting on the project, Stephen Bull, senior vice president for the wind and low carbon cluster of New Energy Solutions in Equinor, stated that:
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
As for South Korea, it has decided to transform its energy mix from nuclear power and coal to renewable energy. The share of renewable energy in its power production is expected to increase to 20% by 2030.
What is more, the country is aiming to add 49GW to its renewable production capacity by 2030, of which solar power accounts for 31GW and wind power 16GW.