South Korea to Build Offshore Wind Farm

The South Korean Government has unveiled its plans to construct a large offshore wind farm, away from the west coast of the country, by 2019. The wind farm development, in addition to meeting the energy requirements of the country will also help the wind turbine exporters of the country.

The offshore wind farm planned with an investment of around US $8.2 billion will have participation from Korean heavy industries such as Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering and Hyundai Heavy Industries. The proposed offshore wind project will have around 500 wind turbines. The government has agreed to offer 29 million won towards the investment and the balance amount will be contributed by the private investors. The 2.5 GW wind farm will be located near the southwestern areas of Buan and Yeonggwang. The government has unveiled its plans to spend over $36 billion in the development of renewable energy products during the next five years to become one among the top five players in worldwide wind power generation.

According to a release from the ministry, the heavy machinery manufacturing companies, such as STX Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries and other major ship building companies who are looking forward to enter the world wide wind power market require a track record in building and operating wind farms to export their finished products. The release further said that the government has chosen offshore wind production to save precious land space, to prevent environmental problems and to reduce the complaints from the residents.