South Korea will invest some $43 billion in constructing what is to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Reuters reports, adding that the project should be completed by 2030.
The plan is part of the country’s Green New Deal that seeks to transition South Korea to a more sustainable energy future.
“With this project, we are accelerating the eco-friendly energy transition and moving more vigorously toward carbon neutrality,” President Moon Jae-in said at the signing ceremony for the 8.2-GW project, which will help the country’s wind power capacity to 16.5 GW by 2030 from the current 1.67 GW.
South Korea announced its Green New Deal in May 2020. Under the plan, total renewable energy generation capacity would increase to 40 percent of the country’s energy mix by 2034. That’s up from just 15 percent at the moment.
Currently, LNG is the biggest portion of South Korea’s energy mix, followed by coal, at 27.1 percent of the total. Nuclear energy accounts for 19.2 percent of energy generation. By 2030, plans have nuclear’s share in the mix shrink to 11.7 percent, and then falling further to 9.9 percent by 2034. Also, by 2030, the share of renewables should rise to 33.1 percent before hitting the 40-percent goal four years later. Offshore wind appears to have a big role to play in that shift.
Rystad Energy said in a recent report that global offshore wind power capacity was set for a boost of 37 percent this year, driven largely by China. Last year, the report said, global offshore wind capacity rose by 15 percent despite the pandemic, to 31.9 GW. China accounted for 39 percent of the increase.
This year, the world’s offshore wind power capacity should rise by another 11.8 GW, with China accounting for 63 percent of the overall increase.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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