Orsted and South Korea’s POSCO Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand their relationship in the areas of offshore wind and hydrogen.
POSCO will apply the group’s capabilities to support the development of Orsted’s 1.6GW offshore wind projects off the coast of Incheon City.
Orsted and POSCO will also conduct feasibility studies on potential collaboration on renewable hydrogen, as part of the collaboration.
South Korea has set a target of installing 12GW offshore wind capacity by 2030.
In September 2020, President Moon Jae-in further announced the Green New Deal which targets net zero emissions by 2050.
In December 2020, POSCO Group joined the South Korean government’s decarbonisation declaration, announcing its ambition to become a leading renewable hydrogen company and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
Orsted has a “well-established” relationship with POSCO, whose steel business has supplied over 100,000 tons of steel for Orsted’s Hornsea 1 and three other offshore wind farms.
POSCO Group senior executive vice president Jung-son Chon said: “POSCO has placed its hydrogen business as one of our growth engines for the group and is working to discover renewable hydrogen business opportunities.
“We hope to see our renewable hydrogen business pick up speed through this business collaboration with Orsted.
“Combining the operational know-hows of Orsted, a global company in the field of offshore wind and renewable hydrogen, with the business capabilities of POSCO Group, which includes construction and energy, both companies will be able to create synergies for a win-win collaboration.”
Orsted CEO Mads Nipper added: “With a vision of creating a world that runs entirely on green energy, Orsted transformed from a fossil-fuel intensive utility to the world’s most sustainable energy company.
“We are determined to be a global catalyst for systemic change and to help countries and companies undertake their green transformation through scaling existing green energy solutions such as wind and solar and developing and scaling new green solutions such as hydrogen.
“It is wonderful that we could announce the MoU with POSCO during the P4G summit in Korea, which gathers global thought leaders and decision-makers to work towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals and creating a more sustainable world.”