"Now It's Offshore Wind Power"...Aiming to Be One of the World's Top 5 Powers and Create 87,000 Jobs

Joint Announcement of 'Offshore Wind Power Development Plan' by Ministry of Industry and Other Departments
12GW Installation by 2030 Including Southwest Region Offshore Wind Complex
Residents Invest in Projects... Increasing Acceptance by Sharing Power Generation Profits
Streamlined Permits, Transparent Compensation... Enhancing Environmental Sustainability Throughout the Entire Cycle

Jeju Tamna Offshore Wind Power Plant

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government has set a vision to become one of the world's top five offshore wind power nations by 2030. Through this, it plans to create 87,000 jobs annually. It intends to actively expand the deployment of offshore wind power through win-win support measures that share development profits with local communities and residents.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Environment jointly announced the "Offshore Wind Power Development Plan" containing these details on the 17th. The announcement reflected the government's determination to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind power, which had been slower compared to other countries overseas. As of the end of last year, global offshore wind power installations reached 29.1GW, centered on Europe and China. Recently, Japan and Taiwan have also begun expanding offshore wind power, and the cumulative global installation is expected to reach 177GW by 2030. Offshore wind power is showing rapid growth in the renewable energy sector due to its advantages such as high potential capacity, the possibility of large-scale complex development, low environmental damage, and high utilization rates.

◆ "Achieving 12GW Offshore Wind Power by 2030" = Currently, domestic offshore wind power in commercial operation includes Tamna (30MW), Yeonggwang (34.5MW), and Southwest Sea demonstration (60MW), totaling only 124.5MW. The government aims to increase the offshore wind power facility capacity to 12GW in 10 years and leap into the world's top five offshore wind power nations. It is expected to create 87,000 jobs annually through large-scale private investments totaling 63 trillion KRW related to offshore wind power, including turbine manufacturing, offshore structure production, transportation, and installation.

To achieve this goal, offshore wind power complexes centered on large-scale projects must be expanded. Until now, when complaints such as resident opposition and environmental damage concerns arose, it was difficult to obtain various permits, causing difficulties in project promotion. A government official stated, "Offshore wind power takes more than seven years for site discovery, permitting, and installation," adding, "It is necessary to accelerate the pace of promotion over the next three years."

▲Perspective view of the largest offshore wind power plant in Korea, constructed by SK Engineering & Construction in the waters off Ulsan

The three major promotion plans for offshore wind power announced this time are ▲ government-led site discovery and permit simplification ▲ strengthening resident acceptance and environmental considerations ▲ enhancing industrial competitiveness linked to large-scale projects. The government plans to continuously discover sites suitable for offshore wind power with minimal impact on fisheries. This year, it will build a site information map with a supplementary budget of 1 billion KRW and invest 6 billion KRW to conduct basic feasibility studies on economic and environmental aspects.

Additionally, it plans to introduce a "direct development complex" system for installing and operating renewable energy power facilities of 40MW or more. From the planning stage, a public-private consultative body will be formed to gather local residents' opinions, while providing various incentives to promote the development of direct development complexes.

Since March, through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries consultative body, efforts are being made to enhance consistency between marine and fisheries policies and offshore wind power projects, and to establish an integrated permitting organization suitable for domestic environments. For offshore wind power facilities of 100MW or more, overlapping environmental impact assessments and marine area use consultations will be integrated to rationalize the permitting system.

◆ Expanding Resident Incentives... "Preventing Project Delays" = To increase resident acceptance, the government will promote the "Citizen Shareholder Project" that expands public participation. For resident-participation projects, a REC weighting (up to 0.2) will be used to provide residents with long-term income. Local residents invest in the project and receive profits from power generation and interest. When projects are led by local governments, a REC weighting (up to 0.1) will be granted to contribute to regional development.

Various methods will also be explored to revitalize nearby tourism and fisheries industries linked to offshore wind power. While minimizing the reduction of fishing zones, coexistence technologies between offshore wind power and fisheries will be developed, such as creating aquaculture farms on offshore wind power substructures.

By the first half of next year, "Profit Sharing Guidelines" and "Resident Acceptance Guidelines" will be prepared. These aim to prevent opposition for compensation or regional development support and to avoid situations that worsen project feasibility. Compensation for damages and support for residents and regions will be made transparent through three methods: ▲ individual compensation under the Fisheries Act ▲ support for surrounding areas under the Project Promotion Act ▲ profit sharing through REC weighting (local government-led and resident participation types). Additionally, resident acceptance guidelines will be created to strengthen opinion gathering centered on actual stakeholders. This is intended to prevent long-term project delays caused by opposition from a small number of residents.

Furthermore, construction methods minimizing environmental impacts such as noise and vibration will be applied, and REC weighting will be granted only to power complexes using products certified with KS for offshore wind power.

After completing offshore wind power facility construction, an impact survey on the marine environment will be conducted for up to three years, and mitigation measures will be implemented if damage occurs. If the project is terminated or suspended, a performance bond deposit plan will be prepared to ensure that the operator promptly fulfills the obligation to restore the facilities to their original state. The government aims to enhance environmental considerations throughout the entire offshore wind power lifecycle, including construction, operation, and dismantling.

◆ Full-scale Promotion of 2.4GW Southwest Region Offshore Wind Power = The construction of a 2.4GW offshore wind power complex in the Southwest region, located in the waters of Gochang and Buan, Jeonbuk, is expected to accelerate. On the 17th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, local governments, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and Korea Offshore Wind Power signed a business agreement to promote the construction of the offshore wind power complex. A 60MW demonstration complex was completed last year, and from 2022, a pilot complex (400MW) and expansion complex (2GW) will be sequentially started.

Once the expansion complex is completed by 2028, a large-scale offshore wind power complex totaling 2.46GW will be established. This capacity is enough to supply electricity to 2.24 million households. The government expects an economic ripple effect of 23 trillion KRW and the creation of 90,000 direct and indirect jobs through the construction of the Southwest region offshore wind power complex.

In addition, the government plans to expand offshore wind power deployment focusing on large-scale projects such as ▲ Sinan offshore wind power (8.2GW) ▲ Ulsan (1.4GW) + Southeast region (4.6GW) floating offshore wind power ▲ Jeju (0.6GW) ▲ Incheon (0.6GW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.