Deep Wind Offshore and bp have created a joint venture to explore offshore wind prospects in South Korea.
bp has purchased a 55% share in Deep Wind Offshore’s early-stage offshore wind portfolio, which includes four projects throughout the Korean peninsula with a potential producing capacity of up to 6GW, as part of the agreement.
By 2030, South Korea hopes to have over 22% of its energy from renewable sources and is anticipated to become a leading offshore wind region.
The joint venture will allow bp to enter the South Korean offshore wind sector through Deep Wind Offshore’s existing presence in the region. This includes a highly qualified team in four locations around the country, as well as a strong history in South Korea since 2006 through its owner Knutsen Group, which is presently one of the largest clients of Korean shipyards in the shipbuilding market. Today, bp has a 40-year presence in the country, with significant oil and LNG trading operations and the Castrol lubricants company.
“South Korea is an exceptional market to expand our growing offshore wind footprint. We are very happy to be working with a partner as strong as Deep Wind Offshore, which has managed to build a strong local team and develop these projects in collaboration with a variety of Korean stakeholders. We look forward to developing these gigawatts further so we can integrate these electrons in the wider energy system and help the global and South Korean energy transition,” bp senior vice president of offshore wind Matthias Bausenwein said.
Bausenwein stated that South Korea is an excellent market to develop bp’s expanding offshore wind footprint. Bausenwein expressed the company’s delight to work with a great partner like Deep Wind Offshore, which has built a strong local team and developed these projects in partnership with a wide range of Korean stakeholders.
Knut Vassbotn, Deep Wind Offshore’s CEO, said: “We are extremely excited about partnering with bp to help realize our quality portfolio of projects in South Korea. There is a great fit between our highly competent development team and the bp execution capabilities. We look forward to integrating our teams to realize the projects in a sustainable manner, in close collaboration with local stakeholders to bring both clean electricity to the country and opportunities to local supply chain and communities.”
The permitting procedure for the four projects is well underway, with wind measurement equipment deployed in 2021 and 2022. In the following months, bp and Deep Wind Offshore will attempt to deploy additional wind measurement instruments and gain electricity business licences.
