RWE Renewables Executive Vice President and Asia Pacific Regional President Jens Orfelt speaks with The Korea Times at the Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort in Incheon, Monday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

INCHEON — The offshore wind power industry in Korea, still in its early stages compared to more advanced countries in Europe and Asia, is gaining momentum. This growth is driven by the government's goal to achieve global carbon neutrality by 2050 by harnessing more renewable energy sources, according to the head of RWE Renewables' Asia-Pacific region.

Overseeing the German offshore wind power developer's operations across the region, Jens Orfelt is dedicated to revitalizing the industry in Korea. As the executive vice president of RWE, he is committed to hiring local talent to gain diverse perspectives, engaging with residents to build trust, and advocating for improved policies to attract more foreign developers to the Korean clean energy market.

RWE is currently planning to develop three offshore wind power farms off Korea's west coast, near Taean County in South Chungcheong Province, Sinan County in South Jeolla Province, and Incheon. These projects, which collectively aim for a capacity of three gigawatts (GW), began to take shape in 2022, a year after Orfelt joined RWE as the regional president. This initiative supports the country's goal of achieving 14.3 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, with RWE contributing 8 GW toward this target between 2024 and 2026.

"Korea possesses favorable conditions in terms of supply as well as demand. As Korea has developed manufacturing industries in shipbuilding, heavy industry and second batteries, the country is well positioned to effectively manage the installation and transportation processes of energy generation facilities," Orfelt said during an interview with The Korea Times.

"This is partly the reason why oversea offshore wind developers began competing over the Korean offshore wind market for the past several years."

The growing industry in Korea is gaining momentum as it expands its presence abroad, according to Orfelt.

China, the dominant player in the region, is on track to hit 50 GW. Taiwan has set a target to install 15 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2035 and has already achieved the installation of the first 2 GW. Japan aims to install 10 GW by 2030 and 30 to 45 GW by 2040. The European Union, the global leader in offshore wind power, aims to increase its capacity to 111 GW by 2030 and 317 GW by 2050. The United States is on track to achieve 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050.

RWE co-owns and operates 19 offshore wind farms in Europe, supported by 25 years of experience and approximately 2,500 field experts worldwide. Orfelt aims to leverage these assets to expand on the already established foothold in Korea.

"We are a build-to-operate utility. We invest in projects with the intention to operate those assets rather than deliver a product and then exit. This means we will be there from origination to decommission, a period of up to 45 years," Orfelt said.

"We now have more than 50 staff in our Seoul office. Our goal is to deploy our experience into a highly localized approach with significant local investments and presence (to boost the industry here)."

Turbines at RWE's Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, located off the southern coast of the United Kingdom, are shown operating in this undated photo. The farm, commissioned in April 2018, consists of 116 turbines with a total capacity of 400 megawatts. Courtesy of RWE Renewables

Tasks for government

To fully launch the offshore wind power industry in Korea, the government would be well advised to first establish a solid systemic foundation, according to Orfelt. He emphasized the need for clear targets and roadmaps to provide industry predictability, allowing companies to manage risks more effectively and create favorable conditions for corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Orfelt also highlighted the country's auction system, which he believes is underregulated and overly complex. He suggested that the government should engage with local fishing communities, select sites, and serve as a central auction authority, rather than leaving these responsibilities solely to companies. This approach, he argued, would simplify the entire system.

"So far, companies could basically plant a flag in the ocean and start developing the project. You go to different government agencies, try to get community acceptance and continue with environmental exercises. Developers have to figure these out all on their own. Only when everything is done and dusted, you can go into an offtake arrangement," Orfelt said.

"We believe that it would be much better if the government take the early stage development, choosing the site, consulting with fisheries (because it's better than different developers coming to the same fisheries and offering many different things) and put together a central, one-stop agency that's responsible for finance, getting local consents, bird migration and all the permits. Vital steps towards such auction simplicity can be reached with the government hopefully passing the Special Act for Promotion of Wind Power Distribution in the near future."

Orfelt said that energy security has never been more important for any country amid the rising costs of capital and the current geopolitical situations particularly with major elections happening in over 60 countries this year and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.

"These situations have resulted in higher prioritization of energy security, especially in Europe," he said. "It's important for the Korean government to have regulatory frameworks in place to continuously draw in investment and developers' attention."

Sustainable approaches

Since RWE established its business and office in Korea in 2021, the company has been patiently waiting for its offshore wind power projects to progress to the construction phase. However, there are obstacles. In addition to the government's role in auctions for developers, which Orfelt believes should be expanded, there is the challenge of obtaining consent from local residents and authorities, a process that Orfelt recognizes can be time-consuming.

His key objective is to earn the trust of local residents. A dedicated team from RWE's Seoul office has been working diligently to maintain positive relations, engaging in discussions about how the company can offer improved comforts and economic support in exchange for their agreement to the projects.

"Last week I was in Australia and met First Nations people who shared their story of how they have been mistreated by industries led by European settlers for the past 200 years. Just as well in Korea, you have fishermen here who have been fishing in the ocean for generations. They say ‘what does this (offshore wind power farm) mean for my life?'" said Orfelt.

"So wherever we develop projects, we set up a local office to hear opinions from local people, whether a kindergarten kid or a Ph.D student, because we build projects that are built to last for more than 30 years. We start the project and also decommission it, a duration close to 40 to 50 years. So, it's important for us not just to be accepted by the local society but to become a trusted and active member of it."

RWE's sustainability policies influence both the manufacturing of wind turbines and the recycling of components after wind farms are decommissioned. One of the company's goals is to utilize more eco-friendly steels and recycled materials.

"At our Kaskasi offshore wind farm in Germany, 50 percent of the blades are made out of recycled materials. For the past six years, our industry has also been testing methods to install artificial corals on our actual monopiles or underwater structures so that maritime environment around our offshore wind farms can rejuvenate," Orfelt said.

"We try to think 30 years ahead, asking ourselves, ‘How're we going to disassemble this?' ‘How can we reuse the steel or cables as much as possible?' We have an obligation towards governments to come up with clear decommissioning plans."

Who is Jens Orfelt?

Jens Orfelt has built a 17-year career in the offshore wind power industry, working across various sectors — from identifying potential business opportunities to managing plants and making final decisions within a corporate hierarchy.

Before joining RWE Renewables in 2021 as the regional chief of the Asia-Pacific region, Orfelt served as a commercial director at Green Investment Group for five years, starting in 2017, where he was part of a team that executed the first commercial scale offshore wind farm in Taiwan. Prior to that, he was an in-house legal representative for Ørsted, the largest wind power developer in Denmark, from 2014 to 2016. Before dedicating himself exclusively to the energy sector, he served as a private practitioner with major Danish law firm Gorrissen Federspiel and London-based law firm Eversheds Sutherland.

He studied law at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, graduating in 2007. Following his education, he spent a year working as a public prosecutor at the Danish Ministry of Justice.