November 30 (Renewables Now) - A joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell (AMS:RDSA) and CoensHexicon Co Ltd has secured an electricity business licence for 420 MW of floating wind generation offshore South Korea, a third of its planned 1.3-GW project off the coast of Ulsan.

The joint venture is called MunmuBaram Co Ltd and was formally set up several months ago after Shell and CoensHexicon teamed up in 2019 to develop the Korean project. The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company holds an 80% stake in the JV, and CoensHexicon -- 20%. CoensHexicon itself is a 49:51 JV between Swedish floating wind specialist Hexicon AB (FRA:67T) and Korean service provider Coens Co Ltd.

The electricity business license has been granted by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and means MunmuBaram has exclusive development rights to progress the 420-MW portion of the project.

The next steps will see the partners take the project through environmental impact assessment (EIA), marine traffic survey, cultural heritage inspection survey and other activities. They have so far carried out wind data measurement campaigns and completed geotechnical and geophysical surveys.

Over the last few days, German companies BayWa r.e. and RWE AG (ETR:RWE) signed memoranda of understanding with Ulsan authorities for the development of floating wind projects.

In May, South Korea unveiled plans for the construction of a floating wind complex off the coast of Ulsan City with a total capacity of 6 GW by 2030.

South Korea aims to deploy 12 GW of offshore wind by 2030.

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