South Korea has awarded nearly 700 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind capacity across four fixed-bottom projects, all submitted by public-led consortiums, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said this week.
In its latest auction round, MOTIE confirmed that no capacity was allocated from the 750MW tranche reserved for private-led bids. All successful bids came from a separate carve-out reserved for public-led initiatives.
The four selected projects include the 400MW Southwest 2 by Korea Offshore Wind Power, the 105MW Handong-Pyeongdae project led by Jeju Energy, the 96MW Dadaepo project, and the 80MW Aphae project from Woori Green Energy. The ministry did not officially disclose the winning bidders, but confirmed the allocation.
Projects that failed to secure capacity include the 504MW Haesong 3 project led by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and the 340MW Hanbit project, partially owned by Thai conglomerate B.Grimm.
“While not a complete shocker, the outcome is still a bit of a surprise – and it clearly indicates that the South Korean government seems to prioritize public ownership and localization with readiness to pay a premium by selecting the public-led projects,” said Simon Engfred Schlichting, APAC lead analyst at Aegir Insight.
Both unsuccessful private-led bidders are expected to participate in upcoming auctions. The next round will be exclusively dedicated to privately-owned projects, potentially offering a clearer path for international developers.
“It will be very interesting to see the market’s reaction and whether localization and security criteria will become an increasing topic in the next rounds,” Schlichting added.
The auction results underscore the South Korean government’s strategy of promoting domestic participation and supply chain development in its growing offshore wind sector.
