Wind energy project to begin

Korea took its first step yesterday to become what it called the world’s third-largest wind farm powerhouse, a move that will cost over 10 trillion won ($9 billion) in total.

The 10.2 trillion won project will soon begin rolling as the Ministry of Knowledge Economy signed a memorandum of understanding with 15 companies, including the state-run Korea Electricity Power Corp., and two provincial governments to build an offshore wind farm in the western sea.

Under the plan initially unveiled in November 2010, the government, along with developers, will first build what they called a “proving area” by 2014 in waters off the coast of western Buan and Yeonggwang counties in North and South Jeolla to test 20 turbines, each generating five megawatts of electricity.

Additional turbines will be added to the site in two stages to bring up total generation to 500 megawatts by 2016 and 2,500 megawatts or 2.5 gigawatts by 2019, according to the ministry.