South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) agreed with delegates representing Gochang-gun, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea Marine Wind Power, and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), to support a 2.4 GW offshore wind farm in Southwestern North Jeolla Province.
The government would sponsor an extensive marine wind power project in the waters of Jeolla Province. This project aims to improve the nation’s offshore wind generation to 12 GW through 2030 and belong to the top five producers of foreign wind power worldwide.
The two-phase construction would commence by 2022 with the 400 MW pilot complex, and the rest of the 2 GW power complex would start in 2023. The project estimate cost would reach 14 trillion won ($11.6 billion) until 2028.
Offshore Wind Farm Deal
The construction of a testbed complex in 2017 secured the residents’ approval in North Jeolla Province for the agreement on the wind power project. The business agreement resulted from the deliberation of the private government council in Southwestern North Jeolla Province, delegates of the National Assembly, related agencies, civic and environmental groups, and residents.
The deal consists of different measures to ensure the residents’ welfare through various cooperative projects amid the development brought by the construction.
Sung Yoon-mo, Minister of MOTIE, said that the government plans to choose the southwestern coastal wind farm located in North Jeolla Province as the first combined complex after studying the provisions for designation in October this year. He also mentioned that the wind farm in North Jeolla would become an example to other regions.
The large-scale offshore wind power complex project would generate 2.46 GW in 2028 and enough to supply electricity to 2.24 million households.
In 2019, the global offshore wind power generation achieved 29.1 GW, with the majority generation shared by Europe and China. Presently, Taiwan and Japan also aim to create offshore wind power farms. The offshore wind power generation would intensify globally, reaching six-fold to around 177 GW by 2030.
