Mokpo City Secures Future Growth Engine Centered on Offshore Wind Power Industry

A Major Step Toward Becoming a Hub City Leading the Domestic Offshore Wind Industry

Attracting 300 Billion KRW Investment with Offshore Wind Global Leader Vestas

Mokpo City (Mayor Park Hong-ryul) is focusing its efforts on securing future growth engines centered on the ‘offshore wind power’ industry.

According to the city on the 11th, in the era of energy transition, with RE100 and carbon border taxes emerging as new trade barriers, the crisis for domestic companies is becoming a reality, and the global trend toward eco-friendliness is accelerating.

Accordingly, Mokpo City is dedicating itself to creating sustainable future food sources by strategically fostering ‘renewable energy’ that actively leverages the region’s strengths.

The southwestern region of Jeollanam-do, centered on Mokpo City, has the optimal conditions to activate a large-scale offshore wind power industry based on the country’s best offshore wind potential and infrastructure.

(Center) Park Hong-ryul, Mayor of Mokpo City, is taking a commemorative photo after signing an investment agreement worth 300 billion KRW with the world-leading offshore wind power company 'Vestas' and the global shipping company 'Maersk' in April.
[Photo by Mokpo City]

Amid the global expansion of renewable energy, ‘offshore wind power’ is presented as the most effective means, and our government has also announced continuous industrial development plans, including the deployment of 18.3GW of wind power facilities by 2030. Jeollanam-do is rapidly promoting related policies such as attracting overseas companies and applying for the Shinan-gun offshore wind power complex, with the vision of becoming the mecca of the domestic offshore wind power industry.

In this situation, Mokpo New Port is emerging as a key hub port for fostering the domestic offshore wind power industry.

To create a large-scale offshore wind power generation complex, a specialized port capable of loading, assembling, and transporting heavy equipment to the sea is required. Mokpo New Port meets the essential requirement of bearing capacity for an offshore wind support port and has a nearby hinterland (about 150,000 pyeong), supporting the construction of offshore wind power complexes and is evaluated as the optimal location in the country.

One of the reasons for the slow development of the domestic offshore wind power industry is the absolute shortage of support ports, and Mokpo New Port is also somewhat challenged in fully handling the large volume of cargo expected to increase rapidly in the future.

Therefore, Mokpo City is focusing on advocating for the additional construction of a dedicated steel quay for offshore wind power (one berth for 30,000 to 50,000 tons) and a second-phase hinterland (238,000㎡) at the new port.

They plan to secure policy feasibility by reflecting this in the ‘2nd Basic Plan for New Port Construction (2019?2040)’ and the ‘4th National Port Basic Plan (2021?2030),’ and concentrate efforts to ensure infrastructure is built on time through aggressive national treasury investment.

Through this, by attracting related anchor companies and forming a new value chain, they intend to successfully establish an offshore wind power industry ecosystem centered on Mokpo New Port.

As part of this, in April, turbine manufacturer ‘Vestas,’ a global leader in the offshore wind market, and global shipping company ‘Maersk’ signed an investment agreement worth 300 billion KRW at Mokpo New Port.

Through this agreement, Vestas plans to establish a factory capable of producing more than 150 turbines annually, securing a foothold for exports not only domestically but also to Asia and North America, while Maersk is expected to contribute to revitalizing the new port by generating large-scale logistics centered on offshore wind power. The factory is scheduled to begin construction early next year and is expected to enter full-scale mass production from 2027.

Moreover, they are preparing to designate a ‘Opportunity Development Zone,’ one of the current government’s core economic policies. The Opportunity Development Zone is a regional balanced development policy promoted by the Presidential Committee on Local Autonomy, aiming to attract large-scale corporate investments to local areas by providing a package of tax and financial support, regulatory exemptions, and improvements in living conditions.

Mokpo New Port Panorama
[Photo by Mokpo City]

Mokpo City has completed the application for designation of the Opportunity Development Zone targeting about 126,000 pyeong of the first-phase hinterland of the new port, and plans to be designated as a special zone this year to present a solution for the region’s future leap, which has reached economic and industrial limits, and to promote large-scale corporate inflow, job creation, and population increase through new local industries.

In addition, to promote private investment in large-scale offshore wind power complexes and establish a sustainable industrial support system, they are advancing the ‘Offshore Wind Power Convergence Industrialization Platform Construction’ project.

With a total project cost of 35.7 billion KRW, this project will serve as a control tower comprehensively managing and supporting the entire process of offshore wind power complex creation and operation through △ development of offshore wind power maintenance and logistics management software △ construction of port logistics infrastructure △ establishment of an integrated control system for power generation complexes.

Mokpo City plans to promote linked projects actively utilizing this core infrastructure to enhance the platform’s support functions and continuously pursue the establishment of a national-level specialized institution in the future.

Mayor Park Hong-ryul stated, “Offshore wind power is a solid new industry that will take responsibility for our region’s future economy,” adding, “We will lead the market by thoroughly establishing the foundation for the successful promotion of the offshore wind power project, take the lead in building an eco-friendly ecosystem, and truly become the hub of offshore wind power.”

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