Financial close for CIP's South Korean offshore joint venture

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and energy firm SK E&S have reached financial close on what is thought to be South Korea’s second commercial-scale offshore wind project, 99MW Jeonnam 1.

by Orlando Jenkinson 11 October 2023

Offshore wind farm near Gochang, South Korea. (pic credit: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

CIP and the Korean energy firm founded the Jeonnam Offshore Wind Power company in 2020 as a  49% 51% joint venture. The JV is also developing the Jeonnam 2 and Jeonnam 3 projects in the region, with a combined capacity of 800MW.

Jeonnam 1 is located off Mokpo-Si in the East China Sea off the coast of southwestern Korea and is due to come online in 2024. It will use the nearby Mokpo New Port for the construction process. 

The CIP-SK E&S joint venture  received an electricity business licence in 2017 and has reached a grid connection agreement with South Korean state utility Kepco, which paves the way for the project to connect to the national grid when it comes online next year. 

Jeonnam 1 signed manufacturing and construction deals with Korean suppliers including Hyundai Engineering and Steel, and cabling specialist Gaon in 2022. 

South Korea is targeting 14GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 in a plan to diversify its energy mix away from its current reliance on coal and oil. 

The country's 60MW North Jeolla 1 offshore wind project came online in 2020.