South Korea opened its first commercial wind power plant on the southern island of Jeju on Friday, stepping up its renewable energy initiative, a state-run utility company said.
Korea South-East Power Co., which is wholly owned by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., said the 30-megawatt complex, composed of 10 wind power turbines, opened on the western cost of Jeju following two months of tests.
Paik Un-kyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy attended the opening ceremony alongside company officials.
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The KEPCO headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province (Yonhap) |
The offshore wind farm is capable of generating 85,000 megawatts of electricity annually, enough to provide power to up to 24,000 households on the island.
Korea South-East Power has been in charge of the project since it began in 2015, while Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. built the facility using in-house technology.
With the opening of the plant, South Korea has the world's ninth-largest wind power capacity at 35 megawatts, the state-run company said. (Yonhap)