Samsung Heavy aims renewable energy markets with offshore wind floater

South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries Co. unveiled an offshore wind floater to branch out into renewable energy markets at home and abroad.

Samsung said on July 19 that the Tri-Star Float, its 9.5 megawatts (MW) offshore wind floater model, received an approval in principle from DNV, Norwegian certification company specialized in shipping and transportation.

“The offshore floater will enable us to make forays into the renewable energy sector using our capacity to build large-scale offshore plants,” said Samsung’s Vice President of Offshore Business Division Wang K. Lee.

The floater removes a pontoon, a steel-frame structure supporting wind generators on the sea, which allows to significantly cut time for production, transportation and installation. Samsung designed it to ensure safety in the extreme marine environment by analyzing wind, tide and water level in the East Sea for the last 40 years.

Capitalizing on this advantage, Samsung plans to target a South Korea’s government-led wind farm project in the East Sea, which will generate 6 GW power.

Samsung started the floater’s development in October 2020 and succeeded the floating water tank model test at Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO) in March this year.

Write to Jung-hwan Hwang at jung@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.