South Korea unveils plan for 6-GW floating wind power complex

South Korea announced on Thursday plans to invest KRW 36 trillion (USD 32.1bn/EUR 26.6bn) in the construction of the world’s largest offshore wind park on floating foundations.

The complex will be built by 2030 off the coast of Ulsan City and will have a total capacity of 6 GW. President Moon Jae-in stated that the overall investment will come from both the public and private sectors and that the project will create some 210,000 jobs.

According to the President, Ulsan's sea is optimal for the execution of such projects because of its wide continental shelf with a depth of 100-200 metres. The scheme is said to also benefit from the area’s strong winds of over 8 metres per second and the availability of transmission and distribution networks connected to nearby power plants.

The government expects public companies such as Korea National Oil Corporation and Korea East-West Power Co Ltd to take part in the development of local floating wind projects, as well as sector players like Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR), the Green Investment Group (GIG) and France’s Total SA (EPA:FP), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the KFWind consortium and the partnership between Shell (AMS:RDSA) and CoensHexicon Co Ltd.

The 6-GW wind power complex will be large enough to generate the equivalent of supplying 5.76 million households. The President also pointed out that a portion of its output could be used for the production of green hydrogen.

(KRW 1,000 = USD 0.892/EUR 0.738)

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