Orsted signs two deals to advance offshore wind aspirations in South Korea

Renewables giant Orsted has inked two memoranda of understanding (MoU) deals in South Korea this week to develop a series of large offshore schemes off the country's coast.

The latest MoU deal has been signed with Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO) to work on the early-stage development of the planned 1.6GW Incheon offshore scheme.

Earlier in the week, Orsted also signed an agreement with Korea Southern Power (KOSPO) to commence work on the development of a smaller 800MW offshore farm off the coast of Ongjin, which is also in Incheon.

The two projects will together be known as the Incheon Cluster, which will represent a multi-trillion dollar investment.

The move follows Orsted's announcement at the end of last year that it had signed a €2 billion (£1.6bn US$2.3bn) five year sustainability-linked revolving credit facility to replace its existing, undrawn €1.4 billion (£1.1bn US$1.6bn) facility established in December 2015, money that will be used to grow its capacity.

In 2018, Orsted said it was targeting over 30GW of capacity built out by 2030, a goal it has now raised to 50GW in the same time frame. The company's current portfolio stands at around 12GW.

Additionally, the revolving credit facility is also being adjusted to meet Orsted's taxonomy-aligned green investments, linked to its announced  DKK 350 billion (£39.9bn €47bn US$54.4bn) investment programme for 2020-2027.

With such investment, Orsted is looking to have in place 50GW of installed renewable capacity by 2030.