[Herald DB]
[Herald DB]

As the government pushes offshore wind power as a cornerstone of its renewable energy strategy, major companies are pouring fresh capital into their offshore wind subsidiaries. Firms that entered the sector in the early 2020s but struggled to show meaningful results are now seizing on policy support to accelerate their expansion.

Companies inject capital into offshore wind subsidiaries

Doosan Enerbility held a board meeting Friday and decided to acquire 63,000 common shares of its subsidiary Doosan Geo Solution for 63 billion won ($43 million), with shares priced at 1 million won each. Payment is scheduled for Sept. 15.

The acquisition represents 56 percent of Doosan Enerbility's total capital contributions to Doosan Geo Solution, which stand at 111.8 billion won, making it the largest single injection since the subsidiary's founding. It is also roughly three times the 20.5 billion won invested in 2024.

Doosan Geo Solution was established in 2023 when Doosan Enerbility began pursuing its clean energy push, with a mandate to develop "carbon-free energy projects." It was set up as a dedicated entity covering renewable energy development broadly, including wind power, fuel cells and hydrogen.

This latest investment, however, is squarely focused on offshore wind. In its regulatory disclosure, Doosan Enerbility said the capital injection was made "to provide investment funds and operating funds for equity investment in offshore wind power generation projects."

SeAH Steel is also scaling up investment in SeAH Wind, its UK-based offshore wind monopile subsidiary. On June 10, SeAH Steel disclosed plans to acquire approximately 70 billion won worth of redeemable convertible preferred shares issued by SeAH Wind. The company had already made a 93.4 billion won capital contribution last year.

Hanwha Ocean announced in May that it would inject 127.2 billion won into Ocean E&I, a subsidiary that operates wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV), by acquiring 25,439,900 common shares. Separately, Hanwha Ocean is building a WTIV capable of installing 15 MW-class ultra-large turbines at a cost of 800 billion won, earmarked for the Sinan Ui offshore wind complex — a project in which Hanwha Ocean holds the largest stake at 26 percent.

Firms pour money into loss-making subsidiaries on government backing

The offshore wind subsidiaries in which these companies have invested have all failed to post meaningful earnings since their founding, yet investment is picking up in earnest this year. According to corporate disclosures, Doosan Geo Solution posted an operating profit of 66 million won last year but recorded a net loss of 2.93 billion won. SeAH Wind likewise logged an operating loss of 67.2 billion won and a net loss of 81.3 billion won last year. SeAH Wind, founded in 2021, has yet to reach the ramp-up stage of stable production. Ocean E&I, incorporated in December last year, posted a net loss of 3.5 billion won by year-end.

"Companies that were established under the renewable energy promotion drive of the early 2020s but have since underperformed are now treating the current administration as a genuine opportunity to expand their businesses and are making large-scale investments," an industry official said.

Under the Lee Jae Myung administration, offshore wind has been designated a key driver of renewable energy. The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, which last year set a target of 25 GW of cumulative offshore wind capacity by 2030, has announced plans to tender more than 4 GW of new capacity annually going forward — a significant increase from the roughly 1 GW per year previously put out to bid.


klee@heraldcorp.com