President Moon's First Step Toward Green New Deal... Offshore Wind Power Complex in Jeonbuk

Full-Scale Promotion of Korean New Deal, Aiming to Become a Top 5 Global Offshore Wind Power Nation by 2030... On-Site Visit to Offshore Green Energy

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] On the afternoon of the 17th, President Moon Jae-in made his first on-site visit for the Green New Deal by visiting the Wind Power Test Building at the Wind Power Core Technology Research Center of the Korea Institute of Materials Science located in Buan, Jeonbuk, and the Southwest Jeonbuk Offshore Wind Power Demonstration Complex.

The Blue House stated, "This visit is a signal marking the full-scale promotion of Korea's great transformation and the Green New Deal following the Korean New Deal National Report Conference," adding, "It reflects the determination to accelerate the energy transition centered on offshore wind power, a representative renewable energy source, and to raise the competitiveness of Korea's wind power industry to an advanced country level, aiming to become one of the world's top five offshore wind power nations by 2030."

President Moon inspected the site by visiting the Wind Power Test Building at the Wind Power Core Technology Research Center in Buan, Jeonbuk, the cradle of Korea's wind power industry. The Wind Power Core Technology Research Center is the only internationally accredited wind power blade (rotating wing) testing institution in Korea, and all certification tests for nine blades developed domestically were conducted at the Wind Power Test Building.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Blue House explained, "Only seven countries worldwide, including Korea, Denmark, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and China, have wind power blade testing institutions recognized by the International Renewable Energy Agency," and added, "Once the expansion of the Wind Power Test Building is completed by the end of the year, it will have the world's largest-scale blade testing facilities and equipment."

At the Wind Power Test Building, President Moon sequentially received explanations from developers of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Human Composite, LS Cable & System, and Hyundai Steel about offshore wind power components, including 3MW-class wind power blades, and directly observed blade testing.

President Moon praised the efforts and achievements of the developers who independently developed the design, manufacturing, and certification testing technologies for wind power blades, successfully localizing the blades, and encouraged the entrepreneurs who have laid the foundation for the domestic wind power industry.

Afterward, President Moon moved to the offshore area of the Southwest Jeonbuk Offshore Wind Power Demonstration Complex to visit the green energy site. The Southwest Jeonbuk Offshore Wind Power Demonstration Complex is Korea's third offshore wind power complex with a capacity of 60MW, which has been operational since July last year. From this year, the pilot complex development will be actively promoted and is planned to expand to a total capacity of 2.46GW by 2028, equivalent to 2.5 coal-fired power plants. This capacity can supply electricity to 2.24 million households.

President Moon emphasized that the Green New Deal is a timely demand for future society and an international standard. He also expressed the will to respond to climate change as a responsible member of the international community and to create new markets, industries, and jobs through the Green New Deal.

The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries announced the vision to become one of the world's top five offshore wind power nations by 2030. The government plans to establish a coexistence model where navigation and fishing activities are permitted within offshore wind power complexes, and marine ranch demonstration projects are conducted, allowing fisheries and offshore wind power to coexist harmoniously.

The Governor of Jeonbuk stated in the Southwest Jeonbuk Offshore Wind Power progress report that the Southwest Jeonbuk Offshore Wind Power project, with an investment of about 14 trillion won, will revitalize the regional economy and, using the offshore wind power project and Saemangeum renewable energy project as a catalyst, will propel Jeonbuk to become the center of the Green New Deal.

On the same day, two representatives of residents from Buan and Gochang in Jeonbuk, along with Korea Offshore Wind Power, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Jeollabuk-do Province, Buan County, Gochang County, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding for a large-scale resident-participatory offshore wind power project in Southwest Jeonbuk.

The Blue House stated, "The agreement to promote the project through a public-private consultative body is the first case in Korea and is evaluated as a model case presenting coexistence measures between offshore wind power and fisheries with the participation of local residents."

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