Offshore wind an alternative amid supply chain risks, market trust lowers generation costs
Lee Hyun-seung of Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP) Korea and Kim Jin-chul of Jeonnam Offshore Wind highlighted offshore wind as a supply chain alternative amid geopolitical energy uncertainty, citing 13.8 trillion won in manufacturing output per 1 GW and 624 GW domestic technical potential.
"Offshore wind power is a source of energy that minimizes external influence and enables energy independence in a situation where geopolitical risks are intensifying energy security crises."
Lee Hyun-seung, Chief Development Officer of Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP) Korea, made this statement on October 28 at the offshore wind power session of the Clean Energy Infrastructure Forum held under the theme "Denmark's Experience, Korea's Innovation." Against a backdrop of growing uncertainty in global energy markets due to the US-Iran conflict leading to the Strait of Hormuz blockade and the Ukraine-Russia war, offshore wind power can enhance the stability of a country's energy supply and demand.
South Korea's government has decided to consolidate five state-owned power generators (Korea East-West Power, Korea Midwestern Power, Korea Western Power, Korea Southern Power, and Korea Southeastern Power) into a single entity called 'Korea Generation' after 25 years of operating separately.
Korea's five state-owned generators become one in October 2027. They hold 14.0 GW of offshore wind, a third of the national pipeline. What the merger case rests on, and what it leaves unanswered.
Each report takes a project from wind and site to an optimised turbine layout, net energy after wake, the grid connection route, capital cost and levelised cost of energy (LCOE), with sensitivities to wind, wake and cost. Group reports analyse neighbouring projects together, including the wake between them.