Wind turbine manufacturer Unison said Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with J-Ocean Heavy Industries, HJ Heavy Industries, and Myeongwoon Industrial Development to establish an offshore wind turbine production facility at Gunsan Shipyard and pursue strategic business cooperation.
The agreement was established to leverage the production infrastructure and port accessibility of Gunsan Shipyard to build a large-scale offshore wind turbine production facility, linking everything from the production of related equipment to transportation and supply. Through this, Unison plans to expand its manufacturing base for entering the domestic offshore wind market and establish a stable supply system.
Gunsan is close to offshore wind project sites in the southwest sea region and possesses shipbuilding industry infrastructure and port facilities, making it advantageous for producing and transporting large-scale offshore wind equipment.
With Gunsan Port designated as an offshore wind support port, momentum is also building for securing a logistics hub and creating a cluster. Unison also signed a mutual cooperation MOU with Jeonbuk Special Autonomous Province, Gunsan City, and Gunsan National University last month.
Under this agreement, the four companies will consult on land leasing and infrastructure utilization plans for building new production facilities at Gunsan Shipyard.
Wind turbine manufacturer Unison, J-Ocean Heavy Industries and HJ Heavy Industries with production infrastructure, and offshore wind project developer Myeongwoon Industrial Development plan to divide roles from project development to equipment production and supply by leveraging their respective capabilities.
They will also cooperate in the production and supply of core offshore wind equipment such as towers and offshore substations (OSS). The plan is to link this with the cultivation of specialized personnel for research and maintenance to be established in the future.
Unison plans to produce 25 13.6-megawatt (MW) class offshore wind turbines at the new production facility to supply the Hanbit Offshore Wind project. The Hanbit Offshore Wind is a 340MW fixed-bottom offshore wind project being promoted in waters near Anma Island and Songi Island, Nakwol-myeon, Yeonggwang County, South Jeonnam Province. It aims for groundbreaking in July 2027 and completion in December 2029.
Unison explained that "this production facility construction is a process of concretizing Unison's previously announced plan to secure an annual wind turbine production capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW)." It also stated, "We plan to strengthen the supply chain for large offshore wind turbines by expanding cooperation with domestic component companies centered on the Gunsan production facility."
Kim Byung-ju, CEO of Unison, said, "Entering the large-scale offshore wind market requires not only turbine manufacturing technology but also securing production facilities and logistics infrastructure," adding, "Gunsan is close to southwest sea region offshore wind project sites and can utilize existing shipyard infrastructure, making it suitable as a hub for large turbine production."
He continued, "Through this agreement, we will lay the foundation for linking the production and transportation of large offshore wind turbines, and actively respond to large-scale domestic offshore wind projects including Hanbit Offshore Wind to enhance market competitiveness."
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