Plans Unveiled for New Multi-Gigawatt Offshore Wind Project in South Korea

October 30, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

Several Korean companies have joined forces on a multi-gigawatt offshore wind project in the southwest of Korea. The project consists of three offshore wind farms with a combined installed capacity of 3.2 GW, which would produce enough electricity to power 3 million households.

On 30 October, HD Hyundai Electric, Pacifico Energy Korea, CS Wind, Korea Ocean Engineering & Consultants, and Daebul Shipbuilding signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop the 3.2 GW offshore wind project off the coast of Jindo County in South Jeolla Province.

Under the MOU, the companies also agreed to strengthen the cooperation system to complete the project successfully, according to a social media post by HD Hyundai Electric.

“Pacifico Energy will be in charge of equity investment and overall business development, and HD Hyundai Electric will supply wind turbines and power equipment for offshore substations. They also shared their roles in wind towers and substructures, submarine cable installation, and maintenance,” HD Hyundai Electric says.

The company also noted that the Korean government had announced that it would expand the offshore wind target to 26.7 GW by 2036.

Back in 2018, the government set a 2030 offshore wind target of 12 GW in its Renewable Energy 3020 Implementation Plan, which was reaffirmed by the now-former South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in in 2020. Since 2022, it has been reported that South Korea has a target of reaching 14.3 GW of offshore wind power by 2030.

In February 2021, the South Korean government announced a KRW 48.5 trillion (approximately EUR 34 billion) project to develop an 8.2 GW wind complex offshore Sinan County, South Jeolla Province. The project is planned to be completed by 2030, when it would become the world’s largest single offshore development.

A few months later, the country’s president revealed the government would invest KRW 1.4 trillion (around EUR 982 million) in the first phase of a project developing a 6 GW floating wind farm offshore Ulsan.