POSCO Int'l, CIP tie up for Korean offshore wind project

POSCO International, the general trading and energy exploration unit of South Korea’s steel giant POSCO Holdings Inc., has joined hands with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the world’s top green energy asset manager, on an offshore wind project in Korea.

POSCO International on Monday signed a memorandum of agreement with the Danish firm to jointly develop an offshore wind farm in Pohang where the South Korean company’s affiliates that produce steel and electric vehicle battery materials operate plants.

POSCO International and CIP also agreed to cooperate on other eco-friendly energy sectors such as green hydrogen and green ammonia.

POSCO International aims to supply electricity generated at the offshore wind farm to Pohang Steel Works and POSCO Future M Co.'s factory in the port city, about 330 kilometers (205 miles) southeast of Seoul. Those facilities need an eco-friendly energy complex to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

“The agreement offers a good opportunity to accelerate the offshore wind power generation business,” said POSCO International President & CEO Jeong Tak. “We expect the deal to build a bridgehead for cooperation in green business.”

POSCO INTERNATIONAL TO EXPAND OFFSHORE WIND POWER BUSINESS

POSCO International is developing a 300 megawatt-offshore wind farm in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province with a target of completion by 2027 while participating in another offshore wind farm project in the East Sea.

The company aims to ramp up offshore wind power output to 2 gigawatts, more than 30 times the current level.

“We will actively expand the local offshore wind power business by cooperating with advanced companies in the global industry,” said a company official.

The deal came after CIP on June 21 unveiled investments of $350 million in South Korea’s offshore wind projects.

CIP Managing Partner Jacob Baruël Poulsen signed an Investment Notification Form in the presence of South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol committing to investments into offshore wind developments in the country including both fixed bottom and floating offshore wind projects, which are located in Ulsan as well as Shinan County and Yeonggwang County in South Jeolla Province.

CIP manages 10 funds and has raised approximately 19 billion euros ($20.8 billion) to date for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 140 international institutional investors.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
 

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.