Equinor, LS Cable & System ink South Korean floating wind agreement

LS Cable & System has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Norway’s Equinor for cooperation on the 750 MW Bandibuli/Firefly floating offshore wind project in South Korea.

According to LS Cable & System, the company has developed South Korea’s first dynamic submarine cable for floating offshore wind, which is being considered for introduction through this collaboration.

Equinor signed a memorandum of understanding with Ulsan City in May 2019 for the development of the Firefly/Bandibuli floating wind farm offshore Ulsan, planned to be built 70 kilometers off the Ulsan coast across two sites, each covering 75 square kilometers.

The company received approval for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project in July, allowing the wind farm to participate in the fixed-price contract auction for wind power projects.

In addition, the wind farm recently entered into a Transmission Service Agreement (TSA) with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

The project is planned to feature Siemens Gamesa 15 MW wind turbines, with plans to assemble the nacelles locally under an agreement Equinor signed with Siemens Gamesa in October.

The South Korean government recently opened a tender for 2.8 GW of wind and solar energy capacity, 1.5 GW of which is being sought through offshore wind.

Last month, Korea’s Energy Agency’s Renewable Energy Center issued an invitation to tender which seeks to award 1 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind and 500 MW of floating wind projects.