Government Makes All-Out Effort to Remove Obstacles to Offshore Wind Power... Dedicated Teams Formed for Power Grid and Community Acceptance

Energy Deputy Minister Park Ki-young of the Ministry of Industry Holds 2nd Meeting of the Offshore Wind Power TF

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The government will form a dedicated working group to address power grid issues and local opposition that hinder the expansion of offshore wind power generation.

Park Kiyoung, Vice Minister of Energy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, announced this on the 21st during the 2nd meeting of the 'Offshore Wind Task Force (TF)' held at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in Seoul.

Vice Minister Park said, "After listening to the difficulties faced by project operators through two TF meetings, the main obstacles for offshore wind operators were the difficulty in connecting to the power grid and the challenge of securing local acceptance solely by the operators. It seems necessary to have support from specialized institutions and experts, so it appears appropriate to form working groups under the Offshore Wind TF dedicated respectively to the grid and local acceptance."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to systematically and meticulously manage the difficulties of individual projects by forming working groups with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Korea Power Exchange, and local governments in the grid sector, and with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea Energy Agency, and others in the local acceptance sector.

At this 2nd meeting, the difficulties of 14 offshore wind projects (10 operators) in the southern Jeonnam region including Yeosu, Wando, and Haenam were reviewed and solutions discussed. Operators in the southern Jeonnam region mainly requested government and local government attention and support regarding timely grid connection, enhancement of local acceptance, and expedited permits, similar to the 1st meeting.

In this regard, KEPCO provided detailed explanations of the grid reinforcement plans for the Jeonnam area and announced plans to promote a paradigm shift to 'power grid first, generation later' including the construction of shared offshore wind connection facilities.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy also plans to continue inspections from February after the Lunar New Year for the remaining two regions: the Southeast region (Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam) and the Central region (Incheon, Chungnam, Jeonbuk). The 3rd meeting will be held in Ulsan, and the 4th meeting will be conducted by visiting the Buan demonstration complex to hear voices from the field directly.

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