[INTERVIEW] Norwegian firm DOF bets big on Korean wind power

Norwegian firm DOF Subsea is optimistic about the potential of Korea's offshore wind power market. The company has established a regional office in Busan, in cooperation with SKY Offshore, to bolster its presence in Korea.

Jan-Kristian Haukeland during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on Oct. 30 in central Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Imagine a colossal steel structure as large as the 777-foot N Seoul Tower floating in churning water. Korea aims to install at least tens, if not hundreds, of these offshore turbines off its coasts throughout the next decade.

DOF, a Norwegian subsea and marine operations service provider, is solidly optimistic about Korea’s market potential and what it can offer during its country’s ambitious venture away from fossil fuels.

“We see a very large market [in Korea], maybe the biggest market in the whole world in the next decade,” said Jan-Kristian Haukeland, DOF’s executive vice president of renewables.

Haukeland and his team sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily for an interview in central Seoul, as the Bergen-based company seeks to bolster its footing in Korea with a new regional office set up in Busan in cooperation with SKY Offshore, a domestic maritime service operator.

Nestled by the sea on three sides, Korea has become a sought-after destination for global wind power companies over the last few years. The country set a stretch target to bring its offshore wind capacity from last year’s 124.5 megawatts to 14.3 gigawatts by 2030.

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Offshore wind zones off the coast of Ulsan, in particular, have attracted major developers including Equinor and Shell with a total of 6.2 gigawatts of floating wind turbines slated for installation by 2030.

DOF is the latest to join the wave.

The company engages in a range of maritime operations in offshore wind development, from early-stage seabed investigation and subsea component design and engineering, to delivery of the components into the sea.

Despite high inflation weighing down on the floating offshore wind sector, an industry that is still in its infancy, the Bergen-based marine operator expects an eventual “steep curve” in the coming years when the market starts to take off.

“The world needs more clean energy,” Haukeland stressed.

“We are going in a circle now, because there is inflation that is also causing delays [in offshore wind projects],” said the executive vice president. “But what we are hearing from South Korea is that … [around] 2027 and 2028 is when the offshore operations start for the floating wind farms, and things are going to go into the ocean.”

Ideally, the main contracts for major offshore projects will be awarded late next year.

DOF was drawn to Korean turf because of the country's strong marketing potential, as well as its existing supply chain.

Yet the missing piece of Korea’s offshore wind supply chain is expertise in marine operation. DOF, with its experience and skill set, hopes to fill that gap.

“As a marine asset owner, we have the vessels that don’t exist here. And even if somebody wants to go build them tomorrow, it will take three or four years before those are ready,” said Barry Steele, DOF's vice president of renewables in business acquisition and project support.

“So it’s sharing what exists today in order to secure an offshore development and […] collaboratively working with local partners to secure the end goal, which is a successful project.”

DOF runs some of the world’s most advanced vessels for marine operation, and Haukeland believes that “high-end vessels are all important, but equally, or maybe more important is the people we have.”

“These vessels are highly advanced, so we need the right people to actually operate them. They will be needed for activities that will take place eventually in Korea,” said Haukeland.

“Now, we don’t see there’s enough experienced marine crew to run these advanced vessels, so we will come in and deliver the service and make sure that we leave experience in the country that we hopefully can build on together with local companies.”

The executive added that DOF will be able to help Korea foster its own expertise through personnel training and other measures in the long run. The company is considering collaborating with Korean universities and training institutes to secure human resources.

Addressing the growing presence of overseas players in Korea’s major offshore projects, Mark Wood, DOF’s business development manager for Asia, stressed that DOF is “here to stay and become local,” pointing out that the major floating offshore wind farm projects are expected to bring in massive opportunities, first and foremost, to the nearby community.

“We are not here to compete; we are here to enable opportunity,” said Wood.

“This floating wind is such a new technology [that] globally, there’s no real area that has installed a lot of this,” said Karl Daly, vice president of renewables for strategy and market.

Offshore floating wind turbines at an assembly site in Gulen, southwestern Norway, on May 3, Wednesday. The turbines will be installed at the Hywind Tampen, the world's largest offshore floating wind farm. [SHIN HA-NEE]

“So I think the international community needs to work together,” Daly added, “and there’s no better country than South Korea globally that can provide as much of that supply chain that it already has.”

However, there remains red tape and a regulatory vacuum surrounding what overseas marine operators like DOF can and cannot do with their vessels.

“The government needs to provide room to grow for companies like DOF that are willing to make investments in Korea and run a sound business here, which will eventually give local companies like us an opportunity to grow together,” said Daniel Shin, senior project consultant at SKY Offshore, DOF’s local partner.

The DOF Group, established in 1981, formally integrated DOF Subsea as its subsidiary in 2005. The company, which accumulated expertise in the offshore industry for more than four decades, has around 4,000 employees across the globe. The Brazil arm is its largest operation, with about half of the firm's total personnel based in the country.

The DOF Group posted an operating profit of 889 million kroner ($81.3 million) and revenue of 3.37 billion kroner in the third quarter.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]