[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 27th that it will implement a pre-investment system for shared connection facilities.
The pre-investment system for shared connection facilities is a system where transmission operators such as Korea Electric Power Corporation construct the shared connection facilities and recover the construction costs from offshore wind power operators during the usage period. Shared connection facilities are connection lines that link the power generated at offshore wind power complexes to the common transmission network. According to the current 'Regulations on the Use of Transmission and Distribution Electrical Facilities,' the construction costs of connection facilities are primarily borne by power generation operators. However, with the revision of the 'Standards for Power System Reliability and Electric Quality Maintenance' on this day, the basis for pre-investment by transmission operators has been established.
The pre-investment system for shared connection facilities is expected to further activate the supply of offshore wind power. This is because it is anticipated to alleviate the initial investment burden on power generation operators, promote large-scale power complexes, and expand private sector participation. It can also prevent indiscriminate land development caused by the construction of individual connection facilities and minimize the construction of power facilities, thereby increasing local residents' acceptance.
The priority targets for pre-investment are offshore wind power aggregation complexes with a power generation capacity of 2000 MW (megawatts) or more. Offshore wind power complexes exceeding 1000 MW in capacity may be selected as pre-investment targets through deliberation by the Electricity Committee if the necessity for pre-investment in shared connection facilities is recognized.
The first beneficiary of the pre-investment system is expected to be the offshore wind power project in the southwestern region of Jeonbuk with a power generation capacity of 2.4 gigawatts (GW). This project is currently designated as an aggregation complex for offshore wind power. In addition, projects such as the offshore wind power projects in Sinan, Jeonnam, and the floating offshore wind power project in Ulsan are preparing applications for aggregation complex designation. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained that if large-scale offshore wind power projects are designated as aggregation complexes, most of them can be subject to the pre-investment system.
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