6GW worth of floating offshore wind projects in Ulsan, South Korea, have completed their environmental impact assessments and are ready to move to the next stage of development.
Off the coast of Ulsan, South Korea, a cluster of floating offshore wind projects is planned for development, with five consortiums responsible for delivering 6GW of capacity. The approval of environmental impact assessments for all projects is a significant milestone, marking a step forward in realizing large-scale floating wind energy in South Korea and advancing the industry as a whole. South Korea is leading the way in the development of floating offshore wind, with an extensive pipeline of projects, the necessary industrial backing to undertake these large projects, and major players in offshore wind deeply involved. For example, Samsung Heavy Industries recently signed a contract to manufacture and provide a marshaling site for the Firefly project, which is part of the floating offshore wind cluster off the coast of Ulsan.
The developers and projects of the floating cluster in Ulsan include:
- Equinor
- Firefly (750MW)
- Equinor, KNOC, Korea East West Power
- Donghae 1 (200MW)
- TotalEnergies, SK Ecoplant, Corio Generation
- Gray Whale (1500MW)
- Ocean Winds, Mainstream Renewable Power
- KFWind 1 & 2 (750MW)
- KFWind East Blue Power (EBP) (375MW)
- SK E&S, CIP
- Haewoori (1500MW)
- HexiconKorea
- Munmu Baram (1125MW)
It is needless to say that floating offshore wind is still in its early stages compared to fixed-bottom wind, and there are no large-scale operational projects yet. However, South Korea is pushing hard for floating offshore wind, laying the foundation for the manufacturing and development of this emerging segment.
Image Source: Equinor
Map: Esgian Wind Analytics
