On 2 September 2026, the Prime Minister of South Korea chaired the inaugural meeting of the National Offshore Wind Power Committee in Seoul. The launch of the committee marks the official end of the country’s five-year-old offshore wind development model, which had long been plagued by permitting gridlock and sluggish project delivery.
The development mechanism is undergoing a fundamental overhaul: shifting from the European-style approach – where developers independently identified sea areas, engaged with local communities and navigated piecemeal approvals – to a fully state-led model featuring centralised government planning and site selection, followed by tender-based developer selection. Offshore wind has also been elevated to a national strategic priority directly overseen by the Prime Minister.
This reform is not a proactive adjustment, but a reaction to the complete failure of the previous development framework.
South Korea’s cumulative installed offshore wind capacity currently stands at just 0.2 GW – a mere 1% of its 2030 target of 14.3 GW. On average, an offshore wind project takes 8 to 10 years from site selection to grid connection, with developers required to coordinate with 10 competent authorities including the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and power utilities, resulting in highly fragmented approval processes.
A more acute problem is that final site selection decisions are often delayed until late stages of project development. Many projects have advanced for years without confirmed sites, only to face construction delays and resistance from coastal fishing communities. A large number of projects remain stalled in the planning phase with no path to construction.
The new system is enacted under the Special Act on the Promotion of Offshore Wind Power and Industrial Fostering, with four core pillars of reform:
First, site selection authority is centralised under the government. Drawing on multi-dimensional data covering wind resources, ecological environment, fishery production and maritime traffic, the government will proactively identify suitable sea areas for development, build a site selection information platform, and designate preliminary and formal development zones before selecting project developers through tenders. In effect, the government will complete preliminary comprehensive assessments upfront and iron out major uncertainties before sea areas are awarded, replacing the previous model where developers had to source sites on their own.
Second, approval procedures will be significantly streamlined. The existing 42 separate permits will be consolidated into a single one-off implementation plan approval. The Offshore Wind Committee will oversee and coordinate cross-departmental conflicts of interest, replacing fragmented permitting with a one-stop approval process. The target is to cut the average project construction cycle from 10 years to two and a half years.
Third, environmental impact assessments will be front-loaded and phased. The government will complete marine and environmental impact surveys prior to designating development zones. When winning developers submit their implementation plans, supplementary assessments will only be required for changes or omissions. By shifting environmental risk to the government planning phase, the reform avoids scenarios where developers invest tens of millions of dollars in preliminary studies only for projects to fall through due to environmental issues.
Fourth, local interest consultation mechanisms will be institutionalised. Local governments will establish public-private consultative committees with 15 to 25 members, at least 50% of whom will be representatives of local residents and fishermen. Offshore wind sea area occupancy fees will be channeled into a fisheries development support fund. For large-scale zones of 1 GW or above, power utilities will invest upfront in shared grid connection infrastructure, and recover construction costs proportionally from power generation companies at a later stage.
Tender scoring criteria have also been adjusted with notable shifts in weighting: bid price weighting has been cut from 60% to 50%, while the weighting for industrial economic benefits – including supply chain security and public benefits – has risen from 16% to 26%. A new indicator for site construction and operation capability accounts for 8% of the total score. Government tenders will no longer simply pursue the lowest price, but will prioritise partners that can drive local industrial chain development and deliver reliable long-term performance.
The committee has set new development targets: 25 GW of cumulative offshore wind capacity by 2035, with an annual tender volume of no less than 4 GW. In the first half of 2026, 1.8 GW of tenders have already been completed, with five projects totalling 1,786 MW successfully awarded. This marks the first time since the tender system was introduced in 2022 that the project competition ratio has exceeded 2:1.
The first project under the new model has already been announced: Pacifico Energy Korea has been selected as the exclusive developer for Phase 2 of the 2.13 GW Jindo County integrated offshore wind cluster.
