Norwegian energy giant Equinor has announced it has formed a consortium to build a floating wind project off the shores of South Korea.
Equinor, Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and the Korean power company Korea East-West Power (EWP) make up the group.
The consortium is currently launching the development of a 200 megawatt (MW) floating wind farm to be located close to the KNOC-operated Donghae natural gas field off the coast of Ulsan in South Korea.
The Norweigian firm, who build the Hywind floating wind farm off the coast of Peterhead, will undertake a feasability study, which could include the use of the Donghae 1 platform as a substation for a possible wind farm.
Pending the study, building work is planned for 2022, with power start-up planned for 2024.
Stephen Bull, senior vice president for the wind and low carbon cluster of New Energy Solutions in Equinor, said: “We are very pleased to be member of the partnership involved in realising the first floating offshore wind farm in Asia.
“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.”
