Shell Making Further Floating Offshore Wind Moves in South Korea

Shell Gas & Power Developments B.V. has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with power generation company Korea Southern Power Co., Ltd (KOSPO) to drive Shell’s floating offshore wind and renewable energy ambition in South Korea.

Under the MoU, the two energy companies will explore collaboration opportunities to contribute to Korea’s energy transition.

This could include renewable energy off-take, joint operation and maintenance, and potential business opportunities in renewable-based hydrogen energy powered by MunmuBaram, Shell’s joint-venture floating offshore wind project in Ulsan.

”Shell views offshore wind energy as a key part of a net-zero energy system,” said YoungKyu Ju, MunmuBaram Project Director and Shell Korea Country Chair.

”We are excited to collaborate with KOSPO to advance Korea’s renewable energy market and propel the country closer towards its carbon neutral target.”

MunmuBaram project, which is subject to future investment decisions, would be a significant development towards South Korea’s ‘Renewable Energy 3020 Plan’, which aims to increase domestic renewable energy generation to 20 per cent of the energy mix by the year 2030 and will assist in meeting South Korea’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050, Shell said.

Seung-Woo Lee, President and chief executive officer (CEO) of KOSPO said: ”This MoU signed with Shell, a global energy leader, will help KOSPO expand our businesses. This will not only help the Korean government achieve the goal of transforming major energy sources but will also put Korea’s world-class shipbuilding and marine engineering business at the core of the floating wind industry.”

The MunmuBaram floating wind firm farm is a joint venture project between Shell (80 per cent) and CoensHexicon.

The joint venture partners have recently secured Electricity Business Licenses covering the project’s entire 1.3 GW capacity.

The developers said that they will now continue to progress the development of the project through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), a marine traffic survey, a cultural heritage inspection survey, and other activities.

Located offshore South-East Korea, between 65 and 80 kilometres from the city of Ulsan, MunmuBaram will be developed in phases and, once fully constructed, is expected to generate up to 4.2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity every year.

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