Jang Daul

After seven years of discussion, the Special Act on Offshore Wind has passed the relevant subcommittee under the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee at the National Assembly. While it has not yet been fully enacted, this milestone suggests a high likelihood of its final passage.

The act marks a significant shift in the country's renewable energy policy by introducing a government-led site development system, addressing the inefficiencies of the previous "open-door" model used by private developers. The new law aims to streamline offshore wind deployment by allowing the government to designate planned offshore wind zones, ensuring development occurs in optimal locations for better community acceptance and environmental safeguards. It also seeks to overcome bureaucratic hurdles, as developers previously had to navigate up to 29 different regulations across 10 ministries, often resulting in projects taking more than eight years to complete.

Despite Korea's considerable offshore wind potential — estimated at 624 gigawatts by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) — progress has been slow. Korea's cumulative offshore wind capacity currently stands at just 0.3 GW, with the 2.5 GW target set by the Lee Myung-bak administration in 2010 already unmet. The introduction of competitive bidding for fixed-price contracts in 2022 has been a positive development, with 3.4 GW selected over the past three years. However, many of these projects still face significant challenges, making it unlikely that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's target of 14.3 GW will be achieved.

The slow progress of offshore wind development has contributed to Korea's low renewable energy share in electricity generation. In 2024, the country's renewable energy share was only 9 percent, the lowest among OECD nations. The cumulative solar PV capacity reached 27 GW, while onshore and offshore wind power stood at just 2 GW.

This lag is particularly alarming given the twin global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. The World Economic Forum's 2025 Global Risks Report identifies extreme weather events driven by climate change and biodiversity loss as the top two long-term global risks by severity. Korea, as the world's 10th-largest carbon emitter, must take urgent action. Despite committing to carbon neutrality by 2050 and a 40 percent reduction target by 2030 from 2018 levels under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, the country still heavily relied on fossil fuels for 56 percent of its electricity needs last year. Ambitious and rapid expansion of renewable energy is required.

Offshore wind should address not only decarbonization but also biodiversity conservation. Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), Korea aims to designate 30 percent of its land and marine areas as protected zones by 2030. Currently, marine protected areas cover only 1.8 percent of the country's waters. While offshore wind farms can impact marine ecosystems, they can also support biodiversity if well-designed, avoiding ecologically sensitive areas and incorporating mitigation measures. Nature-positive offshore wind development, already being pursued in Europe through initiatives like the Offshore Coalition for Energy and Nature (OCEaN) and The Rich North Sea project, should be explored in Korea as well.

Beyond climate and biodiversity benefits, offshore wind presents an economic opportunity. While European countries and China have established mature offshore wind markets, Korea, the U.S., Japan and Taiwan are emerging players. Korea already has strength in the production of towers, foundations and cables, and its strong industrial base provides a good potential to be a key supply chain country for the Asia-Pacific offshore wind markets.

However, for Korea to fully capitalize on this opportunity, it must rapidly establish an initial 3–4 GW market by developing and upgrading its domestic supply chain and infrastructure, including ports, grids and vessels.

While the Special Act is a landmark step, it is not a silver bullet. Nonetheless, if well-implemented, this new framework could significantly reduce development timelines for future projects. Although projects under the new Special Act will not substantially contribute to the immediate 2030 target, they could play a pivotal role in achieving medium- and long-term targets, including the 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions and 2050 carbon neutrality.

Offshore wind development offers various economic, environmental and social benefits. Korea has a critical opportunity to align offshore wind development with global best practices, ensuring it contributes not only to energy transition and decarbonization but also to biodiversity conservation and restoration.

The passage of the Offshore Wind Special Act marks a turning point. The challenge now is to translate this legislative progress into tangible capacity growth, ensuring that offshore wind becomes a cornerstone of Korea's clean energy transition.

Jang Daul (daul@oceanenergypathway.org) is a climate and energy expert and advocacy specialist.