Samsung signs wind turbine structure supply deal with Equinor

South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said on Wednesday that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Norway's state-owned energy company Equinor to supply floating wind turbine substructures and provide marshalling services, or integrating turbines onto floaters.

The agreement comes as Equinor is seeking to win an offshore power project, dubbed Bandibuli offshore floating wind project, from South Korea.

The project involves installing 50 units of 15-megawatt (MW) wind turbines, 70 kilometers off the coast of Ulsan to build the world's largest offshore floating wind farm. South Korea plans to select its contractor within this year.

The latest agreement is part of their collaboration discussed by Anders Opedal, chief executive of Equinor and Choi Sungan, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries, during Opedal's visit to Korea last month.

If Equinor is selected as the contractor for the Bandibuli project, Samsung Heavy Industries will supply the substructures for 50 floating offshore wind turbines to the Norwegian company.

To bid for the offshore wind power project, Equinor established a special purpose company, Bandibuli Energy, in 2021.

Samsung Heavy Industries has developed its own model for floating offshore wind power facilities.

Since signing a strategic cooperation agreement in Sept. 2022, the two companies have been operating a regular consultative body to cooperate in the areas of not only offshore wind power, but also offshore oil and gas exploration.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com