South Korea Planning to Invest US$7.8 Billion in Offshore Wind Farms

South Korea will shortly begin the construction of its US$7.8 billion offshore wind farm located in the sea about 30 kilometers away from the coast of southwestern South and North Jeolla provinces.

According to a government release from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the government will initially build a wind project in the Yellow Sea by the year 2013 to install and test 20 wind turbines offered by various manufacturers. The experimental project will be followed by the installation of 200 numbers of 5 MW turbines. The ministry is planning to install around 1,000 wind turbines in offshore locations to produce up to 5 GW of electricity per hour which is equivalent to the total electricity produced by its four nuclear power installations.

An official of the Ministry said that the wind farm site was chosen for its shallow water positioning to speed up the construction process and to reduce the cost of construction. He added that the plans for the project are expected to be finalized by next month end. Another official from the ministry detailed the long term action plan of the government to reduce the usage of fossil fuels for energy production to one third level by the year 2030, and he added that currently fossil fuels constitute nearly 50% of the power production sources. The government is also planning to construct 20 nuclear reactors and put them into operation by the year 2030, thus doubling the nuclear energy production from the current level of 14% to 28%. The action plan is also envisaged to increase clean energy use by 20% every year.