Fugro has opened a new office in South Korea as part of a joint venture with South Korean marine technology company UST21 in support of the local offshore wind sector.
The new office called Fugro UST21 and located in Incheon will provide geo-data solutions for South Korea’s offshore renewable energy sector, which the Dutch company has been supporting in collaboration with UST21 since 2019 via a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The creation of Fugro UST21 is said to have established Fugro’s first permanent presence in the country.
The two companies extended their MoU in May 2022 due to the strong demand for combined geophysical, geotechnical and metocean data services.
”We established UST21 in 1999, having recognised the importance of marine surveys for offshore construction around the South Korean peninsula,” said Jongwook Kim , UST21’s CEO.
“Opening the Fugro UST21 office combines our ocean data experience of over 20 years with Fugro’s advanced technology to offer unparalleled Geo-data solutions to help build and maintain South Korea’s future offshore wind farms, while also contributing to the blue economy.”
According to Jerry Paisley , Fugro’s Regional Sales Director for APAC, the company has already been working closely with UST21 for several years but the new office allows it to better support its South Korean clients and meet the growing offshore needs as part of the green energy transition.
Paisley notes that South Korea is the world’s eighth largest power consumer, while the offshore wind farm market predicts around 14 GW of fixed-bottom and floating wind projects to come online by 2030, so the new office is perfectly timed to capture these opportunities and unlock geo-data insights for South Korea’s offshore wind farm developments.
In terms of Fugro’s most recent activities in South Korea, the Dutch geo-data specialist company was appointed by KREDO Offshore to support its offshore wind development offshore Yeonggwang County.