Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel has pinpointed South Korea as a future growth area for the company’s offshore ambitions.
South Korea has a stated aim of developing a 2GW wind-energy project by 2019. Last year, the country’s government said it was looking to build a 100MW test project by 2014, and a 400MW project by 2016.
The country said Korea Electric Power Corp would be leading the development of the projects. Eight suppliers will be involved including Doosan Heavy Industries, Hyundai, and Daewoo.
However, out of these only Doosan has an offshore turbine although this is yet to be deployed in the water.
Engel said there were similarities between South Korea and Denmark. He said: “In Denmark, the government has set a goal of achieving 50 per cent of our electricity consumption from wind energy by 2020, and Korea is leading the way by systematically implementing policies required to spur Green Growth.
“With the right policy frameworks in place, business will make the investments, take the risks, and create the new business opportunities that the green economic transformation promises.”
The comments follow the recent admission from Vestas that it is looking for partners to co-develop its V164 7MW offshore turbine. The company has also put back the launch of a prototype by a year until 2014.
