SK Co. and global private equity fund manager KKR said on the 1st that they signed a definitive agreement to launch a renewable energy joint venture valued at about 2 trillion won.
According to the two companies, the new entity will integrate renewable energy assets such as solar, onshore and offshore wind, and fuel cells held by SK affiliates. Hydrogen-related businesses are excluded from the integration. In the integrated company, KKR will hold 51% equity and SK Co. will hold 49% equity. KKR will have initial management control, while SK will participate as an equity investor and can secure management control later through further negotiations.
At launch, the integrated company will secure about 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of operating capacity, making the business one of the largest in Korea. With the development pipeline added, the total is planned to expand to 10 GW. Based on this supply capacity, the two companies plan to target major domestic industrial customers with surging demand for clean power, including AI data centers and semiconductor production lines.
SK pursued the launch of the integrated company as part of a portfolio rebalancing. The plan is to pool renewable energy assets operated by affiliates such as SK Innovation, SK ecoplant, and SK eternix to secure economies of scale, and to integrate the entire process from project development to construction, operation, and management to improve operational efficiency.
KKR will execute this investment mainly through its Asia-Pacific infrastructure strategy. KKR currently manages more than $100 billion (about 150 trillion won) in infrastructure assets worldwide. Since 2011, it has invested $31 billion (about 46.5 trillion won) in energy transition and renewable energy infrastructure.