SK ecoplant acquires stake in South Korea offshore wind portfolio
Corio Generation, a Green
Investment Group portfolio company, and TotalEnergies announced that SK
ecoplant will acquire a stake in the BadaEnergy offshore wind portfolio
in South Korea. The acquisition is subject to the completion of government
approvals.
The BadaEnergy portfolio comprises more than 2 GW of floating and fixed-bottom
offshore wind farms off the coast of Ulsan and South Jeolla province. This
includes the 1.5 GW Gray Whale project, expected to become one of the world’s
largest floating offshore wind developments.
To-date, four of the
five wind farm projects in the BadaEnergy portfolio have been granted electric
business licenses (EBLs) from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's
Electricity Regulatory Commission. With exclusive development rights on
the vast majority of the portfolio now secured, the partners are progressing
the projects up to first commercial operation date (COD) by 2027.
Woojin Choi, Representative Director of Corio Generation Korea said: “SK
ecoplant's broad experience and excellent capabilities in offshore development
will serve as a great driving force for constructing offshore wind in South
Korea, including one of the world's largest floating offshore wind developments.
In order to support the country’s ambition to lead the way in offshore
wind, we will have a dedicated focus on the localisation of capital, finance
and technology.”
Jungwon Shin, Country Chair Korea of TotalEnergies said: “We are delighted
to welcome SK ecoplant, a well-known and leading South Korean company,
to the BadaEnergy offshore wind power portfolio as a joint developer. Its
participation will help to accelerate the development of our projects and
to build a strong relationship with the local economy, creating jobs, and
building an ecosystem for the South Korean offshore wind power industry
and its supply chain. We are very keen to expand our long-term cooperation
with South Korea to contribute to the diversification of its energy mix.”
SK ecoplant, a subsidiary
of SK Inc., will join the partners in taking the projects from early planning
through licensing and construction to operation. It took its first step
in the offshore wind power market in 2018 by obtaining an EBL for the offshore
wind farm project with a capacity of 136 megawatts on the southeast coast
of Ulsan.
Kyung-il Park, CEO of SK ecoplant said: “By jointly developing the
offshore wind business with global energy companies, we have laid the foundation
to become a major player in the market. We have completed the overall value
chain of the energy business by achieving rapid growth through intensive
investments in the renewable energy sector such as offshore wind, solar,
and fuel cells.”
