韩媒探访全南新安海上风电1号机组：2025年5月已商运，2/3号项目仍处环评后、2028年才开工的远期规划阶段

MOKPO/SHINAN — After a 40-minute boat ride from Saengkkim Port in Shinan County, South Jeolla Province, massive white steel towers emerged beyond the horizon. From the sea surface to the tip of the blades, they stand 227 meters tall — nearly matching Namsan Seoul Tower at about 239 meters. Ten wind turbines rose above the blue water. In the early autumn sea breeze, blades 97 meters long and weighing 44 tons each sliced through the air about six times a minute, or roughly 5.7 rotations. The force generated by that rotation and the wind has turned the open sea into a single enormous power plant. This is the Jeonnam Offshore Wind Complex 1, built across 18.5 square kilometers of water about 9 kilometers off Jaeun Island in Shinan.
Visited on the afternoon of the 10th of this month, the complex stands as a milestone for privately led offshore wind power in South Korea. It was built by SK Innovation E&S (096770.KS) and Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the world's largest offshore wind fund manager, holding 51% and 49% stakes respectively. With total project costs of 870 billion won, the partners installed 10 turbines rated at 9.6 megawatts each — 96 MW of installed capacity — and began commercial operation in May last year. The site produces about 300 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity a year, enough for roughly 90,000 households. The project is also credited with strengthening the domestic offshore wind supply chain: apart from the turbines, supplied by Siemens Gamesa, key components and installation equipment were sourced from Korean firms, including towers from CS Wind, substructures from Hyundai Steel Industries and subsea cables from LS Cable & System.
With Complex 1 having proven both commercial and technical viability, follow-up projects at Complexes 2 and 3 are gaining momentum. A far larger project totaling 800 MW — 399 MW each for Complexes 2 and 3 — will soon get underway in nearby waters. Combined with Complex 1, the area will host a clean energy production base of about 900 MW, comparable to a single nuclear reactor, which typically runs around 1,000 MW. It also means South Korea's offshore wind industry is entering genuine economies of scale and moving onto a large-scale commercial footing.
Complexes 2 and 3 will each hold 26 large turbines rated at 15.35 MW, for a total of 52. Both the capacity per unit and the number of units are more than double those at Complex 1. The investment is on a similar scale: at least 3.6 trillion won each, or more than 7 trillion won in total. The projects cleared an environmental impact assessment by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment last month, brightening the outlook for a roadmap that calls for participation in a competitive auction for fixed-price wind power contracts in the second half of this year, construction starting in 2028 and commercial operation in 2031.
External conditions are also turning favorable. If large power-consuming facilities such as advanced semiconductor clusters are drawn to the Gwangju and South Jeolla region, offshore wind would serve as a core source of green electricity. Kim Jin-chul, executive vice president of SK Innovation E&S and chief executive of Jeonnam Offshore Wind, said the current problem with the power grid stems from having to send electricity all the way to Seoul, where demand is concentrated, from provincial areas where much of the generation takes place. "If large semiconductor plants are actually built in provincial areas such as South Jeolla and Gwangju, electricity produced locally could be used for local demand instead of being sent to Seoul," the executive said.
The pairing of solar and offshore wind is another point of interest. Solar output is concentrated during daylight hours with abundant sunshine, while offshore wind generates more vigorously at night as winds pick up. Because semiconductor fabs run 24 hours a day, solar power during the day and wind power at night can offset each other's intermittency.
That expectation is part of the reason the government is deploying policy finance, including the National Growth Fund, to support financing for large offshore wind projects. Kim said the company is in talks with the government to secure low-interest loans for Complexes 2 and 3 on terms equal to or better than those for the Shinan Ui offshore wind project, one of the first investments made by the National Growth Fund. "With financing conditions for offshore wind projects having deteriorated amid recent increases in interest rates and prices, government support such as the National Growth Fund has become all the more urgently needed," the executive said.
Securing local acceptance has also underpinned the project's smooth progress. Complex 1 established a model that shares part of its generation income with local residents through a resident participation program. So-called "wind income" payments began going to Shinan County and residents of Jaeun Island in October last year, and cumulative profit distributions reached 5.5 billion won through the first half of this year.