On February 5th, a contract for $43 billion to build the World’s largest offshore farm by 2030 has been signed by South Korean President Moon-Jae-in during a ceremony. The power generated by the offshore installation of 8.2GW would be equal to six nuclear reactors, or the effects of planting 71 million pine trees. “With this project, we are accelerating the eco-friendly energy transition and moving more vigorously toward carbon neutrality,” Moon said. This project is the major component of the president’s project Green New Deal (designed to push the country toward carbon neutrality by 2050.) that has been initiated last year to reduce the beliefs on fossil fuels in Asia’s Fourth-largest economy. The administration’s officials of the South Korean government also mentioned that 98% of financing support will be given by the companies involved with this plan and the remaining will be given by the government.
Additionally, the project would provide up to 5,600 job opportunities in the country and achieve its goal of 16.5 GW power generation capacity to 1.67GW by 2030. Many Engineering and construction companies such as Hanwha Engineering & Construction Corp, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., CS Wind Corp, Korea Electric power Corp attended the ceremony. The funding of 47.6 trillion would be provided by these companies for the plan. The President supervised the signing of the $43 billion agreement to construct a plant in the southwestern coastal town of Sinan in the South Korea region. The new wind farm plant would be seven times larger than the world’s current largest offshore wind farm with a 1.12 GW capacity.
According to the US Energy information administration (EIA), in 2020, around 40% of the country’s electricity was supplied by coal-fired power plants, followed by gas-fired units (26%). In the South Korean region, the reactors are placed at two complexes in the South Eastern part, near cities with dense populations such as Gyeongju, Ulsan, and Busan, major demand centers, and also home to many manufacturing plants. A quarter of the nation’s power is supplied by 24 operating reactors of nuclear energy source.
