Original Korean article: JejuSori
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
Last Friday, an unexpected remark emerged during a regular session of the Jeju Provincial Council. It came while questioning follow-up measures for the failed Chuja-do offshore wind power project procurement. The question asked how the cause of the procurement failure was being analyzed and how the system would be improved going forward. Governor Wi Seong-gon, who answered, cited the sharing of benefits with residents and the power grid connection issue as the biggest causes of the failure. He pointed out that the condition requiring annual benefit-sharing of more than 130 billion won and the design for grid connection to Jeju's main island had become obstacles, and stated he would address these two conditions.
However, this analysis diverges completely from the diagnosis that civil society has been directly raising about the project's problems. For the governor's diagnosis to gain credibility, it must at minimum be confirmed what Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO), the only bidding participant at the time, actually decided. KOMIPO participated in the first stage of procurement while agreeing to the procurement conditions of benefit-sharing of more than 130 billion won and grid connection to Jeju's main island. Yet when it came to the second stage document submission phase, it suddenly withdrew its participation.
