South Korea - Large Electronic giant to build wind energy farm in Saemangeum area

Samsung Group, South Korea's top conglomerate, will build green-energy industrial facilities from 2021 in a new town to be created on west coastal tidal flats, Yonhap News Agency reported the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as saying Wednesday.

Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to construct green-energy production facilities, a research institute and houses on a 11.5-square-kilometer plot in the Saemangeum area in North Jeolla Province, the office said.

The construction will be completed in three stages from 2021 to 2040, it added. In the first stage, Samsung will spend about 7.6 trillion won (US$7.04 billion) on building a wind turbines and a production base for solar power batteries there by 2025, creating about 20,000 new jobs, the government said. Plans for the second and third stages of construction have yet to be announced. Samsung's announcement of investment plan is expected to give a boost to the 22.2-trillion-won government project to transform the Saemangeum area into a regional economic hub.

The government last month announced a master plan to turn the reclaimed 401 square kilometers into an eco-friendly waterfront town with industrial, tourism and agricultural facilities as well as science and research institutes. The area is about two-thirds of the size of the capital. It also has a 33.9-kilometer-long seawall, the longest in the world.

In August, OCI, South Korea's leading polysilicon maker, announced a plan to invest 10 trillion won in the Saemangeum project by 2020.

"Samsung's investment plan is compliant with the government's plan to make Saemangeum the base of Korea's green growth and the new growth engine," Lee Byeong-guk, a chief PMO official in charge of the project, told reporters.

The government will render full administrative support within the boundary of the present law so the investment promises can be carried out without fail, Lee said.

Pattern Energy and Samsung Renewable Energy have partnered to acquire wind power projects in the Canadian province of Ontario from Acciona and Boralex.

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