Government touts lower bid ceilings, but REC multipliers push actual contract rates much higher
The government has been promoting lower bid ceiling prices for offshore wind projects, but the actual revenue that developers secure through long-term contracts differs significantly from the bid ceiling prices the government announces.
In particular, the multiplier applied to Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) substantially raises developer revenue, so experts warn that offshore wind economics cannot be assessed based on surface-level bid prices alone.
In fact, the REC purchase contract unit price that power generation companies agreed to with an offshore wind developer in the Jeollabuk-do region in March 2026 was reported at 430.98 won per kWh. Compared to the fixed-bottom offshore wind bid ceiling price of 171.229 won per kWh that the government announced for the same year, this is about 2.5 times that ceiling.
The Daejeong offshore wind project in Jeju is caught up in the same controversy. Although the project involves 100 MW of capacity with 570 billion won in investment, questions are being raised about whether it is rational to build additional offshore wind facilities in Jeju, where renewable energy output curtailment problems already occur repeatedly.
Voices are growing that projects should not be pushed forward on the basis of environmental policy alone, but rather that generation costs, grid reinforcement costs, long-term subsidies, and marine ecosystem impacts should all be disclosed and subjected to public scrutiny.
The REC multiplier hidden behind the figure of 169 won
The core issue in the debate over offshore wind economics is that the bid ceiling price and the actual settlement structure differ.
Renewable energy developers earn revenue from REC sales in addition to the system marginal price (SMP) they receive from selling the electricity they produce. Offshore wind receives an REC multiplier depending on conditions such as water depth at the installation site and distance from land.
Under the current system, the base REC multiplier for offshore wind is 2.5, and additional multipliers can be applied depending on location conditions and community participation. As a result, the final settlement structure can have a greater impact on developer profitability than the bid price itself.
