Principle Power has entered into a collaboration with shipyard HSG Sungdong to advance the serial manufacturing of its floating wind foundations in South Korea, according to an agreement signed between the two entities.
Under the non-exclusive memorandum of understanding (MoU), Principle Power and HSG Sungdong will jointly focus on engineering advancements aimed at enabling mass production and assembly of the WindFloat technology. This initiative aligns with South Korea's impending launch of its first tender for floating wind projects in the latter half of this year.
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Lucio Rodrigues, Head of Supply Chain and Procurement at Principle Power, emphasized the strategic intent behind the collaboration: “Through this agreement, we will provide HSG Sungdong with high-quality inputs on WindFloat design, specifications, and lessons learned to support their efforts to optimize their facilities and processes for the fabrication and assembly of floating wind foundations cost-effectively and at scale.”
The partnership signifies a pivotal step towards establishing a sustainable domestic supply chain in South Korea, supporting the country's ambitious target of achieving 14.3 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
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Jinsang Lee, CEO of HSG Sungdong, highlighted the collaborative efforts to pioneer mass production of floating offshore wind substructures: “This MoU targets the world's first mass-production of floating offshore wind substructure by combining the strengths of both companies.”
South Korea's offshore wind ambitions are bolstered by a regulatory framework that includes annual auctions with fixed-price contracts and REC multiplier mechanisms, aimed at fostering a robust domestic floating offshore wind industry. The government plans to initiate these auctions in the third quarter of 2024 for the first floating projects in Korea.
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The collaboration between Principle Power and HSG Sungdong underscores their commitment to leveraging local expertise and existing infrastructure to deliver large-scale floating offshore wind projects efficiently.
