By Kari Williamson

The offshore wind power project is lead by Korea Electric Power Corp.

Justin Wu, Lead Wind Energy Analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance told Bloomberg Businesweek: “South Korea is a latecomer to wind energy and is coming in at a very difficult time for the industry, where severe competition and falling turbine prices are squeezing the profits of the entire supply chain.

“Offshore wind is probably the best entry point for Korean companies into this sector, given their extensive shipbuilding and marine engineering experience as well as the country's excellent offshore wind resource.”

The offshore wind project will be developed in three phases off the southwest coast of South Korea:

• Phase 1: 100 MW, WON400bn demonstration offshore wind farm to be built by 2014 with turbines in the 3-7 MW range from Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co, and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.
• Phase 2: 400 MW, WON1.6trn demonstration offshore wind farm to be built by 2016; and
• Phase 3: 2 GW, WON8.2trn offshore wind farm by 2019.