Vestas of Denmark, which holds the No. 1 market share in the global offshore wind turbine market, has seen its planned wind turbine plant in Mokpo, South Jeolla, drift without even breaking ground. The amount of orders it has won in Korea so far has fallen short of expectations and is insufficient to meet Vestas' internal requirements for building a plant.
According to the wind power industry on the 24th, Vestas released a plan to build an offshore wind turbine plant in Mokpo when it moved its Asia-Pacific regional headquarters from Singapore to Korea in 2023. Vestas' plan was to produce 150 wind turbines a year at a plant to be built on a site within the Mokpo New Port hinterland complex measuring 200,000 square meters (㎡).
At the time, Vestas held an investment filing ceremony attended by former President Yoon Suk-yeol, and then signed an investment agreement for the turbine plant with then–South Jeolla Governor Kim Yung-rok.
However, the plant construction has shown no progress since. When Vestas did not participate in the Mokpo New Port hinterland complex tender in October 2024, work related to building the plant effectively halted. Vestas Chair Henrik Andersen met with Minister Kim Seong-hwan of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment last October, but there was no notable change regarding the Mokpo plant.
Industry observers cite the shortfall in the number of offshore wind turbines secured in Korea, which failed to meet expectations, as the reason Vestas has not moved forward with building the Mokpo plant.
Vestas will supply 26 and 40 units, respectively, of 15-megawatt (MW) wind turbines to Shinan-Ui offshore wind being promoted by Hanwha Ocean and Korea Midland Power Co. (KOMIPO), and to Wando Geumil offshore wind being pursued by Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN). Turbine deliveries for Shinan-Ui offshore wind, which broke ground on the 16th, are scheduled to begin in 2027. Wando Geumil offshore wind is set to break ground in October.
However, Vestas failed to secure additional volumes in the offshore wind tenders in the first half of this year. That is because Jangbogo offshore wind (led by Kolon Global, Korea Western Power Co. (WP), and Jeonnam Development Corporation), which had been expected to use Vestas' 15 MW-class turbines, was eliminated.
A Vestas official said, "By global standards, we believe we need to secure 1.5 gigawatts (GW) a year of wind turbine orders for more than three years to build a new plant," adding, "The volume we have won in Korea so far falls short of that benchmark."
The official added, "Since the current administration said it will increase offshore wind tender capacity, we are watching to see how much tender volume will come out going forward," and "We will decide whether to build the Mokpo plant after reviewing workload and order performance through the first half of next year."