Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners expects its 500 MW Taean offshore wind project in Korea to reach financial close by the first half of 2027, a CIP executive told NPM.

The company has secured offake contracts for the Taean project via the South Korean government-led matching scheme, Siho Yang, senior business development manager at CIP subsidiary, CIP Molecule Technologies, said.

The project secured the power purchase agreement in the 2024 auction.

Yang earlier told the 18th Asia Offshore Wind Day conference held in Busan on September 15, CIP Korea plans to also submit a bid in the country’s second offshore wind auction later this year.

South Korea currently holds offshore wind auctions twice a year. The scheme works by awarding successful bidders a 20-year, fixed-price contract for renewable energy certificates (RECs), with the price generally comprising the electricity system marginal price plus the REC component.

CIP acquired a 49% stake in Taean in late 2024, with Global Infrastructure Partner’s Vena Energy holding the remaining 51% at the time.

Currently, both CIP and Vena hold 37.5% stakes in the project after Korea Western Power (KOWEPO), a state-owned power generator, signed a joint development agreement and acquired a 25% stake. The deal was announced in July.

Yang added that for the most recently awarded projects in the first half of this year, when 1.03 GW of capacity in total was granted support, CIP is now working to secure power purchase agreements for Haesong 3 and Haewoori 2 wind farms as the next milestone towards financial close for the projects.

These wind farms were awarded in the first offshore wind fixed price contract auction tendered this year.

The Haewoori 2 project has a capacity of 532 MW and uses a floating foundation in offshore Ulsan.

Including Taean, so far CIP has been awarded offtake contracts for four of its Korean projects totalling 1.63 GW.

The 504 MW Haesong 3 offshore wind farm, a fixed-bottom project off Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, is part of the Haesong Wind 1 and 3 developments.

The company has received government approval for the environmental impact assessment for the roughly 500 MW Haesong Wind 1 development.

Partnerships for both projects are currently under discussion.

According to a number of industry members in the Korean market, CIP is viewed as the leading European player in South Korea’s offshore wind sector, with a total of 11 projects, including planned developments.

South Korea introduced its competitive fixed-price bidding scheme for wind power projects in September 2022.