South Korea is bringing Chinese vessels into the offshore wind sector as they are more readily available and cheaper to hire than non-Chinese vessels. South Korean offshore wind developers have announced that they will use Chinese vessel companies for their projects, and now we see the first instance of a Chinese vessel being used on a South Korean project. The Shun Yi 1600 is a semi-submersible vessel equipped with a crane that has a lifting capacity of 1,800 tons, upgraded from 1,600 tons in 2020. The vessel itself was built in 2018 and has been active in the Chinese offshore wind market since its delivery. Now, the vessel is moving beyond its domestic market and into South Korea, where it will handle foundation work on the Yeonggwang Nakwol project.

Using the Chinese supply chain for South Korean projects has been under scrutiny, as there have been several issues regarding security concerns, local content support, and more. Nevertheless, the Chinese supply chain has found its way into the South Korean market.

The Yeonggwang Nakwol project will have a capacity of 365 MW and 64 turbines. It will use turbines from Vensys, which operates under the umbrella of Goldwind. Additionally, the monopile foundations are being produced locally by GS Entec.

Image source: ZL Offshore (Image not project related)