A bird’s eye-view of a startups complex, to be built in the Saemangeum area by SK E&S.

SK Business Group acquired Yukong, predecessor of SK Innovation, to buttress its growth foundation in 1980. Now the business group is shifting its growth paradigm into an environment and energy company.

To that end, SK E&S, a major energy unit of SK Group, was selected as a preferred negotiator to a 200MW floating photovoltaic power farm project, to be implemented at the Saemangeum reclamation area.

The projected photovoltaic power farm covers about 2.64 million sq. meters, the size of the Yeouido area. It will generate 263GWh of power annually, which is equivalent to supplying electricity to 55,000 households yearly.

The photovoltaic power farm project will be the biggest-ever single private sector project among overland and water photovoltaic power projects implemented across the nation.

If SK E&S is selected as a final bidder of the project, the company will become not only the nation’s No. 1 city gas supplier to the whole of the nation, including Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, but also the nation’s biggest photovoltaic power generator.

SK E&S unveiled the Korean version of “Almere,” a vision of developing the Saemangeum area.

Almere is a planned city consisting of reclaimed land in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands. It is a self-sufficient city, creating about 5,000 jobs every year by attracting innovative companies related to future industries.

SK E&S will utilize 2.5 trillion won to implement three major projects: photovoltaic power generation, building a startup cluster, and attracting a data center.

The photovoltaic power farm project will cost between 400 billion won and 500 billion won. About 2 trillion won will be invested for the startup cluster and data center projects through direct and indirect funding.

Good jobs will be created through a startup cluster, while a data center will be established to attract Korean and foreign IT companies. The date center will be operated by electricity supplied by a floating photovoltaic power farm.

The photovoltaic power farm is to be on stream for commercial operation in 2023. The data center will be operated in cooperation with SK Broadband, an ICT unit of SK Group.

SK E&C’s massive investment plan is in keeping with SK Group Chairman Chey Tai-won’s management tenet of gearing up his group toward eco-friendliness and energy business. Of late, Chairman Chey has stressed eco-friendliness, social responsibility and governance (ESG).

He told energy subsidiaries at an expanded management meeting in June and at a forum in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, in August energy companies cannot survive if they do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions worsening climate change: unless they shift into an eco-friendly energy company.

SK E&S specializes in mainstay businesses such as city bas and power generation. The company is aggressively exploring Korean and overseas new/renewal energy projects.

Currently, SK E&S operate 36 photovoltaic power farms with a combined capacity 47KM across the nation. The company also operates a 63MW wind power plant in Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do.

A view of a data center, to be built in the Saemangeum area by SK E&S. (Photos: SK E&S)