Korea's three major shipbuilders -- Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) -- are jumping into the offshore wind power business. As the government is pushing for Green New Deal projects, they are seeking to get a piece of the action.
DSME has recently signed a business agreement with Korea Electric Power Corp. to enter the offshore substation (OSS) market.
Earlier, Hyundai Heavy Industries, a subsidiary of KSOE inked a business cooperation deal with Korea National Oil Corp. in September 2020 to build the Donghae 1 Korean-type Floating Offshore Wind Power System.
Samsung Heavy Industries also signed an agreement with DNV GL, a Norwegian ship classification organization, in October 2020 to jointly develop design technology for large-capacity floating wind power generators.
Samsung Heavy Industries is taking part in a feasibility study on the development of a 20 MW super-large capacity wind power system, a project awarded by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Samsung Heavy Industries is studying the feasibility of a floating apparatus for a super-large turbine and working on the conceptual design of the floating apparatus.
The Korean shipbuilders are looking to win orders not only for parts and structures of offshore wind power systems but for wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs). One WTIV costs about US$290 million, about 1.5 times higher than the price of an LNG carrier, which stands at US$186 million. If and when the Korean shipbuilders land orders for WTIVs, it will boost their profitability in 2021.
