South Korean Plans for 2500MW of Wind Power Generation

South Korea WInd Power Thumb11 South Korean Plans for 2500MW of Wind Power Generation

South Korea has been relatively slow to tap into renewable energy despite relying on imported sources for 97% of its energy needs. But the Country now is now seeming keen to catch up.

Korea created its first indigenous wind farm in June with nine turbines on unused land at a coal-powered site at Yeongheung Island.  The turbines’ combined capacity is 22 megawatts—enough to power 12,000 households and prevent 3,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. Another 30 MW of capacity is expected to be added to the government-sponsored wind farm project.  The government chose the site with a view to promote quick construction and seek more efficient operation of the turbines. The goal is to establish a good track record for Korea’s young wind power industry. The Government hope that by 2015 windpower farms will become one of the country’s flagship industries along with their traditional ones of semiconductors and shipbuilding. Having signed and approved the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol, South Korea has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below a business-as-usual baseline scenario by 2030. The plans for this, originally signalled in 2010, have now been unveiled:

The South Korean government has announced that it will invest 10.2 trillion won (US$9 billion) in building a 2.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm, the largest in the world planned at the moment, with the exception of the UK. It is more than double the size of China’s recently announced gigantic 1,000 MW offshore wind farm.

Located offshore of South Korea’s southwestern coast, the offshore wind farm will be built in three phases by South Korean companies led by Korea Electric Power, the country’s largest electric utility. The first is a 100-megawatt “demonstration” phase to be completed by 2014. A second 400 MW phase is scheduled for completion in 2016 at a cost of 1.6 trillion billion won (US$~US$1.4 billion). The final 300 turbines will be installed by 2019 to complete the 2,500 MW farm.

South Korea Wind1 South Korean Plans for 2500MW of Wind Power Generation

Joining Korea Electric in the consortium of companies building the offshore wind farm are eight suppliers, including Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.

South Korea is a latecomer to wind energy and is coming in at a very difficult time for the industry, where severe competition and falling turbine prices are squeezing the profits of the entire supply chain” Bloomberg New Energy Finance lead wind analyst Justin Woo commented.

Offshore wind is probably the best entry point for Korean companies into this sector, given their extensive shipbuilding and marine engineering experience as well as the country’s excellent offshore wind resources.”

Accounting for less than 3% of South Korea’s energy supply as of 2009, the proportion of renewable energy used is forecast to rise to nearly 4% in 2013, around 6% by 2020 and 13% by 2020 as a result of the wind farm programme. An emissions trading scheme (ETS) has been operating in a trial phase since January 2010, with a mandatory ETS scheduled to begin in 2015.  Companies that produce more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year will be required to set energy-saving and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

Other clean energy initiatives include feed-in tariffs for renewable energy, subsidies of up to 80% for installing certain types of renewable energy systems and long term, low-interest loans to operate and manage them.

South Korea Wind Energy1 South Korean Plans for 2500MW of Wind Power Generation
Planning South Korea’s offshore wind farm programme (Photo courtesy of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering; Recharge News)

 

Planning South Korea’s offshore wind farm programme (Photo courtesy of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering; Recharge News)

This 2.5-GW wind power project is seen as a major stepping stone by the South Korean government and industry as the country aims to develop a significant wind power industry. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) entered the wind power industry with the purchase of US wind turbine manufacturer DeWind from Composite Technology Corp. in 2009. Earlier this month, the company said it was thinking about buying German wind turbine manufacturer Bard.