South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Namho Choe has chaired a conference with offshore wind companies on August 8 at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul and announced the Offshore Wind Power Competitive Bidding Roadmap.
A follow-up to measures announced last month on invigorating solar power generation across industrial complexes, the blueprint is the second set of implementation measures under the strategy announced this May on expanding renewable energy distribution and strengthening the supply chain.
With the distribution of domestic wind power facility forecast to reach 18.3GW by 2030, the situation going forward calls for competitive bidding on large-scale offshore wind power projects.
The Korean government said it plans to initiate the distribution of offshore wind in a way that can balance the aims to expand the distribution of renewable energy, nurture the industrial ecosystem, and accommodate price competition.
Under the roadmap, the timing of competitive bidding for wind power projects will move up from its initial window in the fourth quarter to the second quarter of each year, and the notice of an additional tender will be released in the former if needed.
From the second half of 2024 to the first half of 2026, Seoul will launch approximately 7GW-8GW worth of offshore tenders during the two-year period.
With regard to bid evaluation, the government will adopt a two-stage process.
The first round of evaluation will assess the nonprice attributes to select 120%-150% of submitted bid quantity and the second round includes price competition based on an evaluation of price attributes. When the first- and second-round scores are added up, the bidder with the highest total score is selected as winner.
Furthermore, the government intends to increase the score allotted for nonprice criteria from the current 40 to 50, as well as incorporating aspects like maintenance, security, and public works as additional evaluation criteria.
Beginning this year, a bid market for floating projects will be newly opened alongside the existing one for fixed turbine orders. Moreover, in line with the realignment of the renewable portfolio standards system, a target ratio on public-sector participation will be proposed to strengthen the role of the public sector.
In the first half of 2025, Seoul plans to launch a public-led bid market.
Vice Minister Choe said the roadmap will help present a stable bid quantity early on, accelerating large-scale investments in offshore wind power and job creation across domestic and overseas firms, while also spurring the establishment of ports and ships and other related infrastructure.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to release a wind power tender for competitive bidding this October, preceded by an auction briefing in September.