Equinor has appointed international engineering firm COWI as owner’s engineer for the Firefly project off the coast of Ulsan, South Korea.
Under the contract, COWI personnel will be integrated into Equinor’s project development team for the 800MW project.
Resources from COWI will work in an integrated manner with Equinor, providing project management and technical follow up of Firefly.
COWI will supply personnel that will be fully integrated into the Firefly project organisation, and the contract also covers independent studies, reviews and other engineering services.
The resources sourced through the contract with COWI will be an addition to Equinor’s own project development resources.
Torgeir Nakken, project director for the Firefly project, said: “This is a novel way for us to bolster our project organisation, combining Equinor’s and COWI’s expertise within offshore wind to develop a new offshore wind market and building anew industry in South Korea.
“We look forward to working in an integrated fashion with COWI’s team to realise the Firefly project.”
This is the first time Equinor leverages an owner’s engineer setup to support project development on an offshore wind farm.
The first resources will be mobilized immediately.
Through the project development phase, the total number of resources is expected to reach maximum 30 people.
The contract will last for the duration of the Firefly project and is the first call off under a global framework agreement between COWI and Equinor.
Embret Johnsgaard, procurement director for Firefly, said: “We are very happy to sign this contract with COWI after a thorough review of the market.
“Equinor’s renewables business is growing significantly towards 2030.
“Exploring new ways to work together with our suppliers is crucial to enable this growth.”