South Korean company Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has signed an exclusive supplier agreement with Norwegian energy giant Equinor for the construction of floating substructures for wind power facilities.

Under the agreement, SHI will also be integrating towers and power turbines to the floating substructures.

Equinor aims to secure the Firefly Offshore Wind Project which the Norwegian firm is currently pursuing in the East Sea. The project involves installing 50 units of 15MW wind turbines 70 km off the coast of Ulsan.

If developed, this will be the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm with a total capacity of 750 MW. The developer for the project will be selected by the South Korean government later this year.

If Equinor is selected as the developer for the Firefly project, SHI will manufacture the substructures for all 50 turbines to be deployed in the project.

Samsung Heavy Industries developed its model for floating offshore wind power facilities and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Equinor in September 2022.

The two companies agreed in June to use SHI’s Shinhannae yard for turbine integration onto floaters for the Firefly project as well as started discussions regarding the fabrication of the floating substructures for the wind farm.