Moon attends ceremony on world's largest sea wind power complex project

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in attended the signing ceremony Friday of an investment deal, worth 48 trillion won (US$43 billion), to create the world's biggest offshore wind power generation complex in South Korea's southwestern region.

He visited Sinan, South Jeolla Province, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, where the facilities with a maximum capacity of 8.2 gigawatts will be built in phases by 2029.

Several local companies, including Korea Electric Power Corp., SK E&S Co. and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., are participating in the project in cooperation with local residents under the so-called win-win accord, based on a "great social compromise." As many as 120,000 jobs are expected to be created.

The power capacity of 8.2 GW amounts to that of some eight nuclear reactors, which would have the effect of cutting around 10 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, according to Cheong Wa Dae. It's like planting roughly 71 million pine trees.

It's expected to serve as a stepping stone for South Korea's goal of emerging as one of the world's top five offshore wind energy powerhouses by 2030 and going carbon neutral by 2050, it added.

The Moon administration is campaigning for the Green New Deal aimed at fostering environment-friendly industries in tandem with a push for balanced national development.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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