SK Eastern Energy (SK E&S), the green energy arm of the Korean conglomerate SK Group, has been designated as the priority bidder for a US$415 million floating solar power plant on South Korea’s southern coast.

The 200-megawatt power station will consist of approximately 2.5 million square meters of photovoltaic panels, capable of powering approximately 55,000 households.

The project will start in the summer of 2021 and is scheduled to be completed in early 2023.

SK E&S's project is part of a larger plan to build solar power plants in the region, which will build a solar power plant with a total power generation capacity of 2.1GW in the region.

The transaction with the New Mangan Development and Investment Agency also requires SK E&S to help economic development in other ways. US$85 million will be invested to establish business incubators for about 300 companies, and underwater fiber optic cable networks will be installed to improve telecommunications.

In the long term, SK E&S will build a data center for its sister company SK Broadband, bringing the total investment of SK E&S in the region to US$1.7 billion.

The project to create Saemangeum began in 1991, but its progress was slowed down by a series of court proceedings brought by environmentalists. Environmentalists believe that the project will cause about 400,000 migratory birds to lose their habitats. These migratory birds stop for food on their way to Africa or Siberia.

The 400 square kilometers of reclaimed land is protected by a dam and 33 kilometers of seawall. Editor/Huang Lijun