Principle Power has signed an agreement with shipyard HSG Sungdong to advance serial manufacturing of its floating wind foundations in South Korea.
The non-exclusive memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlines cooperation by the companies on engineering developments for mass production and assembly of the WindFloat technology.
The MoU prepares the companies to serve demand for floating wind projects as the South Korean government prepares its first tender to launch in the second half of this year.
The agreement furthers the development of a sustainable domestic supply chain in South Korea and supports the country’s ambition to achieve 14.3GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Lucio Rodrigues, Head of Supply Chain, and Procurement at Principle Power, said: “Principle Power collaborates with partners globally to help them prepare for the serial manufacturing and delivery of WindFloat foundations.
“Through this agreement, we will provide HSG Sungdong with high-quality inputs on WindFloat design, specifications, and lessons learned to support their efforts to optimise their facilities and processes for the fabrication and assembly of floating wind foundations cost-effectively and at scale.
“With Principle Power’s extensive global track-record and operating experience in floating wind, and HSG Sungdong’s formidable manufacturing capabilities, we are working together to build optimised delivery scenarios for floating wind projects in Korea and export markets that use local expertise and existing shipyard capabilities.”
Jinsang Lee, Chief Executive Officer for HSG Sungdong, said: “This MoU between HSG Sungdong and Principle Power targets the world’s first mass-production of floating offshore wind substructure by combining the strengths of both companies.”
“The goal of the two companies is to establish a supply system ready to deliver industrial scale floating offshore wind projects by combining the technological experiences of 75MW floating offshore wind farm that Principle Power has already implemented globally and HSG Sungdong’s optimised manufacturing facilities (substructure fabrication, marshaling yard, integration) with excellent manufacturing technology.”
To achieve its 14.3GW offshore wind goal, the Korean government has implemented an annual auction system offering fixed-price contracts for offshore wind projects that includes REC multiplier mechanism designed to help launch a domestic floating offshore wind industry.
Government auctions are scheduled for Q3 2024 for the first floating projects in Korea.