Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has signed a preferred supplier agreement (PSA) with Equinor for floating foundations that will be installed at the Firefly/Bandibuli offshore wind farm in South Korea.
Korean media reports SHI announced on 7 August the company had signed a PSA with Equinor. According to BusinessKorea , the agreement covers the fabrication of floating substructures and marshalling operations for the Bandibuli project.
The news follows an update from the two companies from June when SHI and Equinor said they would collaborate on the Bandibuli floating wind project.
Namely, in June, Anders Opedal, Equinor’s President & CEO and Sungan Choi, SHI’s Vice Chairman & CEO, met to discuss expanding their existing collaboration on oil and gas projects into renewable energy and potentially also low-carbon solutions.
The talks also included using SHI’s Shinhannae yard in Geoje as the marshalling yard for the Bandibuli floating offshore wind project, with plans to house the wind turbine integration onto floaters there.
In a press release about the meeting, issued in June, Equinor said the company would also collaborate with Samsung Heavy Industries on the fabrication of the 50 floating substructures for the Bandibuli project.
The Bandibuli project will potentially be the first major joint project between Equinor and SHI in renewable energy, subject to the floating wind farm being selected in South Korea’s upcoming offshore wind auction, according to Equinor.
This July, the developer obtained approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the floating offshore wind farm, which allows the Bandibuli project to participate in the auction.
Equinor signed a memorandum of understanding with Ulsan City in May 2019 for the development of the floating wind project at an area located some 70 kilometres off the Ulsan coast, spanning two sites, each covering 75 square kilometres.
The Firefly/Bandibuli floating wind farm is planned to have an installed capacity of up to 800 MW and to be in operation in 2027.