Shell to develop an offshore wind farm in South Korea

Oil and gas major Shell has entered into a joint venture with CoensHexicon, called MunmuBaram, centered around developing and operating a massive 1.4-GW floating offshore wind farm off the southeast coast of South Korea.

Shell has an 80% stake in the joint venture while the remaining is held by CoensHexicon, which is also a joint venture between South Korea-headquartered COENS and Swedish firm Hexicon.  

If built, the wind farm would be situated between 65 and 80 kilometers off Ulsan, a coastal city and industrial hub in the southeast of the country.

The proposed facility would be developed in stages and would be expected to produce as much as 4.65 terawatt-hours of energy annually, powering over 1 million households, according to the company.

Water depths for the facility would range between 120 and 160 meters.

On Wednesday, Joe Nai, Shell’s General Manager, Offshore Wind Asia, said, “Korea’s capabilities in the fabrication of offshore facilities and shipbuilding could play a pivotal role in the development and fabrication of floating offshore wind foundations not only for Korea but also for the region and beyond.”

Authorities in South Korea intend to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050. CNBC reported that the country wants renewable energy’s share in power generation to hit 20% in 2030, up from 7.6% in 2017, and aims to develop 12 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Last month, RWE Renewables and Kansai Electric Power had signed an agreement to study the feasibility of a large-scale floating offshore wind project in waters off Japan’s coast.

Floating turbines can be installed in deeper waters, where winds tend to be stronger. This allows a large part of the ocean to be used to generate renewable wind power. Nearly 80% of potential offshore wind power is found in deeper waters.

President Joe Biden has pledged to build more than 30GW of offshore wind by 2030. The Department of Energy said it has invested nearly $100 million to research and develop floating offshore wind technology.

(With inputs from CNBC)

Picture Credits: World Economic Forum