Visitors listen to a staff member’s explanation at the CS WIND booth at the “2026 Offshore Wind Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition” held at the Yeosu Expo venue in South Jeolla Province on the 16th. Photo by Joo Jae-hyun
At the “2026 Offshore Wind Supply Chain Conference” held Tuesday at the Expo exhibition hall in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, one product gleaming silver-white stood out among the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line models displayed in one corner of the exhibition floor. Conventional transmission lines are made of copper, which has excellent conductivity, the global standard. But this product, made by Taihan Cable & Solution, is distinctive in that it fills the cable with aluminum instead of expensive copper, sharply lowering the price.
A Taihan Cable & Solution official met at the exhibition stressed that “because the European market is sensitive to project costs, the new product, with prices lowered to about one-third of conventional copper transmission lines, is perfectly suited for targeting Europe.” Taihan Cable & Solution plans to build a new Dangjin No. 2 plant dedicated to producing direct current (DC) transmission lines in September next year to respond to surging overseas demand. It will also erect a 187-meter vertical continuous vulcanization (VCV) tower, the tallest in the world, to produce 12,000-ton transmission line bundles.
Unison, one of Korea’s two leading wind turbine manufacturers along with Doosan Enerbility, displayed at its booth a model of an actual 10 MW (megawatt) wind power plant scaled down to 1/75. A Unison official said, “Unison has supplied about 30% of the wind power turbines installed in Korea so far,” adding, “The 10 MW-class turbine we developed in-house after six years is set to be supplied to offshore wind power projects across the country going forward.”
The government plans to steadily pursue larger turbines to lower costs and raise efficiency in offshore wind power projects. In line with this, Doosan Enerbility will join hands with Germany’s Siemens Gamesa to domestically produce 14 MW large turbines. Unison plans to sign a license agreement with Germany’s W2E and supply 13.6 MW turbines to projects such as the Yeosu Gwangpyeong (816 MW) offshore wind project.
Visitors crowd the Taihan Cable & Solution booth at the “2026 Offshore Wind Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition” held at the Yeosu Expo venue in South Jeolla Province on the 16th. Photo by Joo Jae-hyun
MSL Technology, a company specializing in the manufacture of aids-to-navigation systems, unveiled a system that attaches six types of marking systems to offshore structures and manages them in real time: optical signals, acoustic signals, lanterns (lights), radar beacons, floodlights, and identification plates. Even when the lantern’s light cannot be spotted at night or in fog, the system uses sound waves, light waves, and radar to guide vessels so they do not collide with structures while sailing. It is distinctive for its solar panels attached so it can operate safely without an external power supply. In addition, the company built a management system that, linked with the Automatic Identification System (AIS), automatically sends an alert to managers when a vessel approaches within a certain distance of a structure.
Local governments, centered on South Jeolla Province, also participated in large numbers in this event. Shinan County, which is at the forefront of offshore wind projects, is a prime example. According to Shinan County, the total installed capacity of offshore wind projects under way within the county is 8.2 GW (gigawatts), equivalent to eight nuclear reactors. This means more power generation facilities will be installed in the waters of Shinan County than at the nearby Hanbit Nuclear Power Site. Going further, Shinan County plans to build a cluster capable of supplying 3.7 GW of equipment annually to leap forward as an offshore wind hub, and to actively use a resident participation profit-sharing model to accelerate offshore wind projects.
Kim Kang-hak, chairman of the Korea Wind Energy Industry Association, said, “If Korea’s good location, surrounded by sea on three sides, is combined with world-class shipbuilding and offshore plant technology, offshore wind can become a new growth engine for manufacturing and a future industrial competitiveness for Korea.”