It is unclear whether Korea's first 'wind power nacelle test site' will operate normally after investing tens of billions of billions of dollars.

The Economic and Environmental Committee of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council urged the province to take measures for the 'wind power nacelle test bed' construction project, which is uncertain of normal operation due to process delays and budget shortages despite investing tens of billions of won.

According to the Provincial Council on the 7th, the previous day, the Economic and Environmental Committee conducted an administrative audit of the Provincial Industrial Bureau and pointed out problems in the wind power nacelle test bed (test site) project.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, Gyeongnam Province, and Changwon City selected Gyeongnam Techno Park as the executing agency and invested 40 billion won in national and local funds starting in 2020 to build the first wind power nacelle test bed in Korea on the site behind Gapo New Port in Masan Happo-gu, Changwon City.

The goal of this project was to build a facility to test and verify whether the nacelle, a piece of equipment that brings together the power converter, gearbox, and controller, excluding the rotary blades (blades) and tower (column), among the main components of wind power generators, by 2024, was properly made.

However, due to design changes that occurred while building the facility at the landfill, an additional 4.2 billion won had to be invested in the project cost, and the project period was extended by two years until the end of this year.

In addition, the company was unable to secure an additional KRW 2.9 billion in euro exchange rate fluctuation costs and an additional KRW 6.3 billion in construction costs, including the installation of German-made test equipment, making it unclear when the facility would be able to operate normally.

Kim Gu-yeon, chairman of the Economic and Environmental Committee, emphasized, "It is necessary to identify and take responsibility for mistakes made while promoting the project, but now it is urgent to come up with a plan for how to properly operate the facility for which a large budget has been invested."

Representative Kang Min-seung pointed out, "Even though it is a project to build facilities on a landfill, it is questionable whether Gyeongnam Techno Park has sufficiently reviewed the possibility of seawater inflow, the need for ground reinforcement, changes in construction methods, and the appropriateness of additional construction costs in a situation where there is no civil engineering staff."

Rep. Jeong Gyu-heon criticized, “Even though the province recognized the need to increase the project cost in 2024, it has not yet secured sufficient financial resources two years later,” and added, “It is completely incomprehensible that a facility that invested tens of billions of won cannot operate normally.”