Korea's Offshore Wind Collaboration Plan

• Published date: 23 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Energy and Natural Resources, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy Law, Renewables, Government Measures, Operational Impacts and Strategy
• Law Firm: Kim & Chang
• Author: Mr Young Kyun CHO, Ryan Russell and Chang Sup KWON

The Korean government's support for the development of offshore wind power in Korea has reached a crescendo. While interest in the nascent domestic offshore sector has been growing gradually for years, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (the "Democratic Party") upped the ante when it included a campaign pledge to implement a Green New Deal for Korea (the "Green New Deal") as a key element of its party platform in Korea's April 2020 National Assembly elections. Following the Democratic Party's strong showing in these elections,¹ the Blue House seized upon the Green New Deal as a means of catalyzing jobs creation, recovering from COVID-19-related economic sluggishness and revitalizing Korea's industrial base and export industries while simultaneously achieving carbon neutrality and improving Korea's energy security.

On July 17, 2020 the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (the "MOTIE"), the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (the "MOF") and the Ministry of Environment (the "MOE") jointly issued a "Plan for Offshore Wind Power Generation in Collaboration with Local Residents and the Fishing Industry" (the "OSW Collaboration Plan"). The OSW Collaboration Plan sets out specific measures to encourage the speedy development of large-scale offshore wind farms and trickle-down benefits to local stakeholders, and given the relative importance of offshore wind in Korea's overall renewable energy transition,² the OSW Collaboration Plan is tantamount to a de facto implementation plan for Korea's Green New Deal.

Korea's Green New Deal

On July 14, 2020, the Korean government announced that the Green New Deal would invest KRW 73.4 trillion to create 659,000 jobs in new and renewable energy sectors by 2025. Additional elements of the Green New Deal include:

• encouraging local stakeholder acceptance of and benefits from renewable energy projects through profit-sharing with developers and government-backed financing, etc.;
• providing government assistance in locating, planning and expediting renewable energy projects in energy clusters to be promoted by local governments; and
• encouraging increased demand for renewable energy by increasing the RPS obligations of large-scale thermal power producers and introducing new renewable energy off-take mechanisms such as indirect PPAs that will enable Korean companies to participate in the RE100 initiative.³

OSW Collaboration Plan Overview

Following shortly on the heels of the official announcement of the Green New Deal, the OSW...