Land use for SK Ecoplant's wind power venture in Canada approved

The green hydrogen Nujio’qonik project in Canada, a venture that South Korea's SK Ecoplant is taking part in, has secured approval to use government-owned land in the province of Newfoundland. 

Upon completion, the project will generate an estimated four gigawatts of wind power on land 80% larger than Seoul.

The project's Canadian organizer World Energy GH₂ on Sunday said it received approval on Aug. 31 from the Newfoundland government to use public land for wind power generation.

Worth an estimated 20 trillion won ($15.1 billion), this large-scale development project will decompose water using electricity produced through wind power generation, extract green hydrogen without carbon emissions, convert it into green ammonia and transport it to other continents such as Europe.

Through the approval, the project has secured the land needed to produce wind power over the next three stages of expansion, namely 1,077 square kilometers, or 80% larger than Seoul's 605 square kilometers. Upon completion, it will generate 4 GW in wind power, equivalent to three to four nuclear power plants.

"Of the 24 bids submitted at the tender, just four including Nujio’qonik were selected,” an SK Ecoplant source said. “It was recognized for its business performance and competitiveness.”

In May, SK Ecoplant signed an investment agreement with World Energy GH₂ to secure a 20% stake of the first phase of the Nujio’qonik project.

Write to Eun-Ji Shim at summit@hankyung.com