Equinor, South Koreans Float 200MW Wind Farm Plan

Equinor, the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and Korea East-West Power Corporation have established a consortium to develop a 200MW floating offshore wind project in South Korea.

The Donghae 1 floating offshore wind farm would be developed near KNOC’s existing Donghae gas platform located 58km off the coast of Ulsan City.

The consortium will carry out a feasibility study for the wind farm, including use of the Donghae 1 platform as a substation for a possible wind farm.

Pending results of the feasibility study, the consortium will start constructing the floating offshore wind farm in 2022, with possible power production start-up in 2024.

In February, Equinor and KNOC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly explore the opportunities of developing commercial floating offshore wind in South Korea.

Shortly after, the Norwegian company entered into an agreement with the City of Ulsan to cooperate on the development of floating wind projects.

The South Korean government defined an energy plan in 2017 to have at least 20% of electricity produced by renewables by 2030. New wind capacity is expected to make 16.5GW, with nearly 12GW being offshore.