Global energy company Shell and Korean offshore wind developer CoensHexicon have established a joint venture, ‘MunmuBaram,’ that aims to develop, construct, and operate a 1,400 MW floating wind farm for South Korea. The floating offshore wind farm will be located off the South-East coast of South Korea, between 65 and 80 km from the city of Ulsan, South Korea.
The project site covers an area of approximately 240 square kilometers (92 square miles) with water depths ranging between 120 and 160 meters making the site suitable for floating foundations. Floating offshore wind farms allow development in larger and deeper offshore areas with higher wind potential.
Currently, at a feasibility assessment stage, the MunmuBaram project will be developed in phases and, once constructed, is expected to generate up to 4.65-terawatt hour (TWh) of clean energy every year. It will be capable of providing renewable power from floating offshore wind to over 1 million Korean households. Besides, the project is expected to create a whopping 35,000 jobs in South Korea.
Since August 2020, the $4.9 billion project has been collecting a range of measurements, including critical offshore wind data at the project location. The developers plan to use this data to apply for Electricity Business License (EBL) this month. A final investment decision is expected in the mid-2020s.
Shell holds an 80% stake in the MunmuBaram joint venture, while CoensHexicon holds the remaining 20%. CoensHexicon is another joint venture between Hexicon, a floating offshore wind power engineering company, and the Korean energy company COENS Co.
MunmuBaram project is a significant development towards South Korea’s ‘Renewable Energy 3020 Plan’, which aims to increase domestic renewable energy generation to 20% of the energy mix by the year 2030 and will assist in meeting its ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050.
