The offshore wind power project in southwestern North Jeolla Province, which has been sluggish for more than a decade in the face of resistance from residents, will be carried out in earnest.
On July 17, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) signed an agreement with representatives of Jeollabuk-do, Gochang-gun, Buan-gun, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Korea Marine Wind Power to promote a large-scale marine wind power project in southwestern North Jeolla Province.
The main point of this agreement is to spend about 14 trillion won ($11.6 billion) by 2028 to build a 2.4 GW offshore wind power complex in the waters of Gochang and Buan, North Jeolla Province.
The construction will be carried out in two stages. First of all, the construction of the 400MW pilot complex will begin in 2022, and that of the remaining 2GW offshore wind power complex will begin in 2023 after a year of weather research.
The signing of the business agreement is based on the results of the "private-government council of offshore wind power in southwestern North Jeolla Province," which was discussed 11 times a year from July 2019 with participation of representatives of the National Assembly, the government, local governments, related agencies, civic and environmental groups, and residents.
The agreement included various win-win measures with local residents, including the promotion of participatory projects for residents. The government, local governments and related agencies decided to support the project as soon as possible through basic feasibility studies, infrastructure creation, joint access facilities construction and licensing cooperation.
"When the integrated complex system is introduced in October, we plan to designate the southwestern coastal wind farm in North Jeolla Province as the first integrated complex after reviewing the requirements for designation," said MOTIE Minister Sung Yoon-mo.
He added, "We plan to expand the creation of an offshore wind farm that co-exists with residents by applying the case of offshore wind power in the southwestern part of North Jeolla Province to other regions."
