Government Designates Offshore Wind Power Cluster Zone in Sinan, Jeollanam-do

A 3.2GW Complex Planned

The government has designated the offshore wind power project underway in the waters off Sinan, Jeollanam-do as a renewable energy cluster zone.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 22nd that, in accordance with the "Act on the Promotion of the Development, Use, and Diffusion of New and Renewable Energy," the project has been designated and officially announced as a cluster zone.

Accordingly, Jeollanam-do plans to establish 10 offshore wind power complexes with a total capacity of 3.2GW in the waters of Sinan-gun by 2033.

Since 2021, Jeollanam-do has been investigating potential permit conflicts for individual wind power projects and reorganizing project zones through the Ministry's "Public-led Large-scale Offshore Wind Power Complex Development Support Project" (with 2.17 billion KRW in government funding). The province has also focused on increasing local acceptance by forming a public-private consultative body that includes residents and representatives of the fishing community.

In particular, representatives of residents from areas where transmission lines are planned have been included in the consultative body, and discussions are underway on the establishment of joint connection facilities through a power grid consultative body and resident briefings. Jeollanam-do also plans to foster the offshore wind power equipment industry and related companies in parallel, aiming to contribute to strengthening the domestic offshore wind power supply chain.

Meanwhile, a cluster zone is a system in which local governments identify suitable sites and secure resident acceptance through a public-private consultative body before proceeding with the project. The government can request Korea Electric Power Corporation to establish joint connection facilities in these designated areas. After the completion of the power generation complex, local governments can receive a renewable energy certificate (REC) weighting of up to 0.1.