UK oil supermajor BP has struck a deal to buy a 55% stake in Norway-based Deep Wind Offshore’s early-stage portfolio as part of a joint venture to develop offshore wind opportunities in South Korea.
BP said the move would see it enter the South Korean offshore wind market through Deep Wind Offshore’s existing presence in the region including a team in four offices around the country, and a strong history in South Korea since 2006 through its owner Knutsen Group, which is currently one of the biggest clients to the Korean yards in the shipbuilding segment.
The portfolio includes four projects across the Korean peninsula with a potential generating capacity of up to 6 GW. The permitting process for the four projects is already underway having installed wind measurement devices during 2021 and 2022. BP and Deep Wind Offshore will now look to install additional wind measurement systems and secure electricity business licenses in the coming period.
South Korea is targeting almost 22% of its energy to come from renewable sources by 2030 and is expected to become a leading offshore wind region.
BP has been building its global offshore wind presence with a 5.2 GW net capacity pipeline. In the UK, with partner EnBW, BP is developing the Morgan and Mona projects in the Irish Sea and Morven in the North Sea off Scotland – together, the projects have potential gross generating capacity of around 6 GW. In the US, BP with Equinor are developing up to 4.4 GW through two projects off the East Coast – Empire Wind and Beacon Wind.
