10-megawatt wind turbines at the Jeonnam Offshore Wind Phase 1 project site, located in public waters northwest of Jaeun Island, Sinan-gun, South Jeolla Province (SK Innovation E&S)
10-megawatt wind turbines at the Jeonnam Offshore Wind Phase 1 project site, located in public waters northwest of Jaeun Island, Sinan-gun, South Jeolla Province (SK Innovation E&S)

SK Innovation E&S said Thursday it has completed construction of the Jeonnam Offshore Wind Power Plant 1 — South Korea’s largest private-led offshore wind farm — marking a major milestone in the nation’s push toward carbon neutrality.

The completion ceremony was held earlier in the day at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, with attendees including Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan, South Jeolla Gov. Kim Young-rok and SK Innovation E&S CEO Lee Jong-soo.

Launched in 2020, the 96-megawatt project is a joint venture between SK Innovation E&S and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a global renewable energy investor. The facility features ten 9.6-megawatt turbines and is expected to generate about 300 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually — enough to power 90,000 households — while cutting carbon emissions by 240,000 tons a year compared with coal-fired generation.

SK Innovation E&S emphasized the project’s financing model as a critical industry breakthrough. It is the first renewable energy project in Korea to adopt nonrecourse project financing, where loans are backed solely by the project’s future cash flow and technical feasibility rather than shareholder guarantees. The company said this approach is expected to draw more private capital into the renewable sector.

The completion marks the first major step in a broader plan to develop an 8.2-gigawatt offshore wind cluster in the region by 2035. The initiative gained momentum in April when a 3.2-gigawatt section — including the newly completed plant — was designated a “wind power specialized complex,” granting fast-track permitting and additional government support.

“The completion of Jeonnam Offshore Wind Power Plant 1 is a stepping stone for Korea’s offshore wind industry to advance to the next stage,” SK Innovation E&S CEO Lee Jong-soo said. “We will continue working to strengthen the industrial ecosystem, support the local economy and contribute to national renewable energy targets.”

SK Innovation E&S and CIP plan to complete environmental impact assessments for the second and third phases by the first half of next year. Construction is slated to begin in late 2027, with the goal of expanding the cluster to 900 megawatts — roughly equivalent to the output of a nuclear reactor — by 2031.


sunblessyou@heraldcorp.com