Original Korean article: Maeil Ilbo
Sinan County in South Jeolla-Gwangju Metropolitan City requested legislative and policy support from National Assembly Member Seo Wang-jin on the 18th to expand the power grid and improve business viability for offshore and onshore wind power plants in the region. Sinan County is pursuing an 8.2GW offshore wind power plant, the world's largest scale.
On that day, Representative Seo visited the region's offshore and onshore wind power plants and support facilities to inspect the status of renewable energy business implementation and discuss policy support measures. Those attending the on-site visit included Representative Seo, Kim Jin-chul, Vice President of SK Innovation E&S and representative of Jeollanam-do Offshore Wind, Lim Jae-gyeom, representative of Jaeeun Residents Wind, and officials from Sinan County.
At Sinan Green Energy in Jaeeun-myeon, they received briefings on the status of regional power generation projects including Jeollanam-do Offshore Wind and Jaeeun Residents Wind onshore wind power, and toured the power plant. They then visited the Jeollanam-do Offshore Wind operation and maintenance (O&M) center at Saengkkil Port in Amtae-myeon to inspect the operation, maintenance, and support infrastructure of offshore wind power facilities.
Following the on-site visit, Sinan County Governor Kim Tae-sung met with Representative Seo and requested legislative and policy support for timely construction of the large-scale offshore wind power plant and stable transmission of generated electricity. Key requests included reflecting offshore wind joint connection facilities in the national backbone power grid, realizing the ceiling price for fixed-price competitive bidding for offshore wind, and revising renewable energy obligation (RPS) guidelines to expand the scope of community participation.
Joint connection facilities are infrastructure that collects electricity produced from multiple offshore wind power plants and transmits it to the onshore power grid. The county believes that including this facility in the national backbone power grid will enhance transmission stability and implementation speed for large-scale projects.
Going forward, the county plans to expand cooperation with the National Assembly and government to resolve institutional obstacles arising in the business process and create an offshore wind industry ecosystem in the region. Governor Kim Tae-sung stated, "Sinan's offshore wind power is a key future industry that overcomes the crisis of regional decline and realizes the nation's carbon neutrality," and added, "We will work closely with the government and National Assembly to ensure the project proceeds smoothly on track."
