The German monopile specialist EEW is expanding its production capacity in the Far East to keep pace with demand in Asia.
To meet the growing demand for offshore wind turbine foundations in South-East Asia and to further expand its production capacity, the EEW Group is expanding its South Korean plant, EEW KHPC, in Gwangyang, Jeollanam-do Province. The production site already specialises in the manufacture of foundation components weighing up to 900 tonnes each.
EEW has also been active in the offshore industry in this country for many years. Originally, the company had planned to manufacture at the site of the former Volkswerft shipyard in Stralsund – but withdrew from the project for various reasons.
From the second half of 2027, the plant in Korea is expected to be capable of manufacturing monopiles, pin piles, as well as jacket components and jacket legs with diameters of up to 13 metres, unit weights of up to 2,500 tonnes and lengths of up to 120 metres, as EEW has now announced. As part of the expansion, up to 200,000 t of steel will be able to be processed into longitudinally seam-welded large-diameter pipes (LSAW pipes) in future. This will increase EEW KHPC’s production capacity from the current figure of around 60,000 t to more than 200,000 t per year. According to the EEW Group, this investment positions it as a ‘future-proof’ supplier for major offshore projects.
“The offshore wind industry in South-East Asia is set to gain considerable momentum in the coming years. With the expansion of EEW KHPC, we are responding early to rising market demand,” said the two managing directors of EEW KHPC, Deok-Han Kim and Kwan-Gyu Tak, in a statement.
To implement the expansion, the EEW Group has acquired additional production halls and adjacent plots of land in the immediate vicinity of the existing plant. This will more than double the available production space. Furthermore, the storage area at the port is being expanded, enabling the site to make optimal use of its direct port connection as production capacities increase.
Together with its sister plant, EEW SPC in Rostock, the group has nearly 20 years’ experience in the manufacture of offshore wind foundations. “We can draw on many years of experience in the European offshore wind market. At the same time, our colleagues at EEW KHPC have extensive expertise in the manufacture of large-diameter foundation components. This creates the ideal conditions for a rapid and smooth expansion without disrupting ongoing production,” says Christoph Schorge, managing partner of the EEW Group.
