Bosung Group to Establish 200MW-Class Data Center Cluster in Solarsido

Employees of Boseong Group and TGK are taking a commemorative photo at the 'Solarisdo Global Data Center Investment Agreement Ceremony.'
[Photo by Boseong Group]

[Asia Economy Reporter Noh Kyung-jo] Boseong Group announced on the 22nd that it has succeeded in attracting large-scale data center investment to be built in the Solar City in collaboration with Jeollanam-do.

On the previous day, Boseong Group signed a $2 billion investment agreement for the construction of a renewable energy global data center with TGK (The Green Korea) at the Black & Beach headquarters located in Kansas City, USA. The signing ceremony was attended by Chae Jeong-seop, CEO of Seonamhaean Enterprise City Development, Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, Myeong Hyeon-gwan, Mayor of Haenam County, Brian Platt, Deputy Mayor of Kansas City, Brad Hardin, CEO of TGK, Mario Azar, CEO of Black & Beach, and Park Hee-jun, CEO of EIP Asset Management.

Through this agreement, TGK and Boseong Group plan to establish a special purpose company (SPC) to oversee the development of the data center. The SPC will build five 40MW RE100 (a campaign to convert 100% of power consumption to renewable energy by 2050) data centers (totaling 200MW) in the Solar City from next year until 2030.

TGK is a financial platform company that develops green energy and digital infrastructure businesses and provides them to enterprises. It was jointly established by Diode Ventures, a U.S. energy infrastructure business developer and investor, and EIP Asset Management, a Korean energy infrastructure advisory firm. Among them, Diode Ventures is 100% owned by Black & Beach, a world-class engineering company in the energy sector.

Boseong Group also plans to accelerate the attraction of domestic companies for the creation of the Solar City data center cluster. Currently, an additional 60MW scale data center is being prepared, and a business briefing session for domestic companies on the Solar City data center project is scheduled for November.

Solar City, where the data center cluster will be located, is a future city being developed on a 6.32 million-pyeong site in Haenam County by Boseong Group affiliates Boseong Industry, Seonamhaean Enterprise City Development, Jeonnam Province, and Haenam County. It is set to be reborn as a renewable energy-based smart city with energy, smart, and garden as its core concepts.

A Boseong Group official said, "Solar City has optimal conditions for attracting RE100 data centers," adding, "It can supply large-scale power required by data centers through renewable energy generation, and since most of the generated power is consumed by nearby power facilities, it can minimize the burden on system equipment such as transmission towers and transmission lines."

In Solar City, a 98MW renewable energy industrial complex centered on solar power plants has been completed. Nearby Shinan County is promoting the world's largest offshore wind farm project. Boseong Group expects this to become a stable energy supply source for companies pursuing RE100.

Furthermore, once the 200MW data center cluster is established, it is expected that more than 200 related companies will move in, creating over 5,000 jobs in addition to direct employment. Regional jobs for data center construction and maintenance are also anticipated.

The official added, "The data center project, which can be considered a core business of the Solar City enterprise city along with renewable energy, has entered the main track through the attraction of global capital," and said, "We will create optimal conditions to attract leading global companies to Solar City and develop it into a city that can set global standards for the data center industry."