South Korea to build world's largest floating offshore wind farm

South Korea to build world's largest floating offshore wind farm

 

By

Thomas Maresca

UPI World News

May 7, 2021 / 5:47 AM

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that South Korea would invest $32 billion to create the world's largest floating wind farm off the coast of the southeastern city of Ulsan. Photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) -- ​South Korea plans to invest $32 billion to build the world's largest floating offshore wind farm as a cornerstone of the country's efforts to move toward carbon neutrality, President Moon Jae-in said.

 

The wind farm complex will be located in the waters off the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan and will generate 6 gigawatts of energy, enough to power 5.8 million homes, the presidential Blue House said in a statement Thursday.

 

 

The project, which is slated for completion by 2030, is projected to create 210,000 jobs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 9.3 million tons per year.

 

"The sea winds are like a carbon-free 21st-century oil resource," Moon said at an event to review the project in Ulsan on Thursday.

 

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Korea joined several other developed economies in October by pledging to slash its greenhouse gases and become carbon neutral by 2050. Asia's fourth-largest economy is looking to wind power as a major piece of its green energy puzzle, with an aim to be one of the world's top five offshore wind-producing countries over the next decade.

 

In February, the country announced plans for a $43 billion conventional offshore wind farm near the southwestern city of Sinan, with an 8.2-gigawatt capacity that would make it the world's largest.

South Korea is one of the most fossil fuel-reliant countries in the world, getting only 6.5% of its electricity production from renewable energy sources in 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. A ministry roadmap released in December calls for raising that figure to nearly 42% by 2034, while downsizing coal, liquified natural gas and nuclear power.

 

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Coal remains the top source of South Korea's electricity production, accounting for more than 40%, and the country is also a major investor in overseas coal projects. Last month, Moon vowed to end all public financing for new overseas coal-fired power plants at a climate summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden.

 

The Ulsan offshore wind farm will be a "shortcut" to achieving Korea's green energy goals, Moon said Thursday. The area is an optimal location for wind power, with deep waters and an average wind speed of around 8 meters per second (about 18 mph), he said.

 

While conventional wind turbines are attached directly to the seabed, floating wind turbines are mounted on buoys held in place by anchors and mooring lines, which allows them to be deployed farther offshore where wind speeds are greater.

 

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Only Portugal and Scotland have floating wind farms in commercial operation, but the global market is projected to grow 100 times over the next 10 years, Moon said.

 

In addition to its clean energy impact, Moon added that the wind farm would be a "future growth engine that saves the local economy" of Ulsan.

 

The city has long been known as South Korea's industrial hub, home to the country's shipbuilding and automobile industries, as well as one of the largest oil refineries in the world.

 

The offshore wind project will potentially draw on existing local firms to create a new supply chain for products such as turbines, towers and cables. One-fifth of the electricity generated at the wind farm is projected to produce 84,000 tons of green hydrogen a year, which could also turn Ulsan into a global hydrogen leader.

 

"Ulsan will leap forward from the industrial capital of the fossil fuel era to the industrial capital of the clean energy era," Moon said. "Ulsan's floating offshore wind farms will become oil fields on the sea and open the future of an energy powerhouse."