With the financing consortium finalized for the Shinan-Ui offshore wind project in South Jeolla, a 3.4 trillion won undertaking, full-scale funding will begin. The Korea Development Bank and the five major financial holding groups will provide a total of 2.5 trillion won for the project.
The Financial Services Commission said on the 9th that it held a "project financing (PF) funding agreement ceremony" at the Korea Development Bank headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, for the Shinan-Ui offshore wind farm project, one of the first mega-projects under the Public Growth Fund. Attending were Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Sim Jin-su, director-general for renewable energy policy at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, Korea Development Bank Chairman Park Sang-jin, KB Kookmin Bank President Lee Hwan-joo, Hanwha Ocean President Jeong In-seop, and SK eternix CEO Kim Hae-jung.
The project will cost a total of 3.4 trillion won. Of the total, 510 billion won will be raised as equity and 2.89 trillion won as debt. Of the debt, 2.5 trillion won will be provided as senior loans by 18 financial institutions, including 700 billion won from the Advanced Strategic Industries Fund, the five major financial holding groups, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), Busan Bank, and insurers. The remaining 390 billion won is set to be provided as subordinated loans by the Future Energy Fund (340 billion won) and the Advanced Strategic Industries Fund (50 billion won).
The Advanced Strategic Industries Fund and others will begin full-scale disbursements in the second quarter of this year. Loans will be drawn down in stages according to the project's progress through early 2029, when installation work is completed.
The project will build and operate a large-scale 390-megawatt (MW) offshore wind power plant south of Uido in Shinan County, South Jeolla. It is the first large-scale offshore wind power project in Korea driven entirely by domestic capital.
In congratulatory remarks, Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young said, "As we have seen in the recent Middle East war, an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is crucial for security and growth," adding, "The Shinan-Ui offshore wind project is expected to meet the explosive energy demand triggered by artificial intelligence (AI) and have positive effects across the energy industry through active production of renewable energy."