South Korea to build “Mother of All Wind Farms”

No one can accuse the South Koreans of thinking small in renewable energy.

The South Koreans plan to spend US$9 billion to build a huge offshore wind farm generating a massive 2.5 gigawatts. That’s equivalent to over 70% of the world’s entire offshore wind farm capacity today.

It will be the largest offshore or onshore wind farm in the world.

The South Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy said massive wind farm will be constructed along the country’s southwest coast.

The farm’s output will be the equivalent of two good-sized coal-fired plants or two large reactors in a nuclear plant. It will likely be composed of hundreds of wind turbines.

Because of the erratic strength of winds, experts believe the farm’s actual utilization will probably be closer to 40% or about 1 GW, which is still huge.

South Korea has said it hopes to develop wind energy into a “flagship” industry similar to semiconductors and shipbuilding, which continue to be important engines of the country’s economic growth.