South Korea's First Offshore Wind Installation Vessel Installs Its First Turbines at Jeju Project Site

Hyundai Engineering & Steel Industries’ offshore wind installation vessel, named Hyundai Frontier and said to be the country’s first vessel of this kind, has completed its first wind turbine installation task at a wind farm offshore the Jeju island.

This is according to a social media post by Kongsberg Maritime, with whose technology the vessel has been equipped.

Hyundai Frontier was launched in June and soon after sailed out to the site of the 100 MW Jeju Hallim offshore wind farm, located near Hallim Port in the northwestern part of Jeju City. According to information shared after the launch ceremony, the vessel’s next job at the 99 MW Jeonnam Offshore Wind Power Phase 1, where wind turbine installation work will start in the summer of next year.

The 14,000-tonne jack-up vessel, equipped with a dynamic position system, is capable of installing wind turbines of up to 10 MW with its 1,200-tonne integrated crane with a 121-metre boom and a pedestal crane that can lift up to 800 tonnes.

Hyundai Engineering & Steel Industries started developing the wind turbine installation vessel back in 2018, with the development taking a bit more time as the vessel specifications were upgraded along the way to catch up with the increasing wind turbine sizes.

According to a report from Korea’s Electric Power Journal (ECJ) from June, following Hyundai Frontier, the company is also considering developing a vessel for the installation of 15 MW wind turbines.