Original Korean article: 인천투데이
Incheon City is facing significant delays in advancing its 9.6 trillion won public-led offshore wind cluster project (IC1), which is being led solely by Incheon Development Corporation (iH). The project has stalled because the city has yet to establish clear criteria for private sector participation.
In contrast, competing regions in South Jeolla Province, including Sinan and Jindo counties, which were designated around the same time, are making steady progress by adopting a mixed public-private partnership model for operator selection. This difference in approach has highlighted the challenges of Incheon's exclusive public-led strategy.
A major obstacle for iH is its high debt-to-equity ratio of 190.4%, which severely limits its financial capacity to independently fund the massive project and meet regulatory capital requirements. This financial constraint has become an additional setback for the Incheon initiative.
The contrasting progress between Incheon and South Jeolla demonstrates how the inclusion of private sector participation can accelerate project development, while Incheon's attempt to exclude private operators has created bottlenecks in the approval and implementation process.
