Korean shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries is exploring the potential for entering the Scottish offshore wind market and is considering setting up “manufacturing supply infrastructure” in the country.
It signed a memorandum of understanding with two Scottish enterprise agencies – Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise – this week, committing the parties to pursue opportunities for floating offshore wind farms off Scotland.
Hannae Choi, Hyundai Heavy Industries’ senior vice president of corporate planning division and wind energy business, said: “We are currently exploring ways to collaborate with various partners to develop the offshore wind market, including establishing a manufacturing supply infrastructure.
“We plan to expand the market by leveraging our world-class know-how in designing and manufacturing floating structures.”
The news follows two other Asian manufacturing giants also planning an entry into Scotland’s offshore wind sector.
Japanese company Sumitomo plans to invest in a £350 million cable factory in the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport area in the north-east of the country.
Meanwhile, it also emerged recently that Chinese manufacturer Mingyang Smart Energy plans to build a turbine factory in Scotland – prompting an angry response from a Scottish lawmaker.
By contrast, Scotland’s deputy first minister Shona Robison described the Hyundai agreement as “a vote of confidence” in Scotland’s green economy.
Scotland is set for a floating offshore wind boom, with developers securing seabed leases for projects in the ScotWind and innovation and targeted oil and gas leasing rounds.
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