(Kim Ho-young)
Vena Group, a renewable energy development company owned jointly by BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, and its subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners LLC (GIP), is set to make an investment of around 20 trillion won ($13.92 billion) in South Korea.
The move comes after Korean President Lee Jae-myung met with BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink during his visit to the United States last month, where they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on global cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the country’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Ministry of Science and ICT, a ceremony was held at the National Assembly on Thursday to receive a Letter of Intent (LOI) from Vena Group.
Attendees included Kim Sung-hwan, minister of Climate, Energy and Environment; Ryu Je-myung, second vice minister of Science and ICT; Kim Woo-chang, presidential secretary for National AI Policy; Representative Cha Ji-ho of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea; and Nitin Apte, chairman of Vena Group.
Vena Group operates large-scale solar, wind, and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects across the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia and India, with a total capacity of 43 gigawatts (GW).
In its LOI, Vena Group identified its key investment areas in Korea, including solar power, onshore and offshore wind power, BESS, green hydrogen, fuel cells, and AI data centers linked to renewable energy grids to support next-generation AI computing.
The total investment is expected to be around 20 trillion won, including the 500-megawatt (MW) Taean offshore wind power project and the 384-MW Yokji offshore wind power project.
The climate ministry assessed the LOI submission as a tangible step toward realizing two of the Lee administration’s key policy goals: expanding renewable energy and advancing AI infrastructure.
The government aims to triple the country’s renewable energy capacity from the current 34GW to 100GW by 2030 as part of its broader effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Vena Group’s initial investment is expected to focus on building renewable energy infrastructure, as such foundation is required to operate data centers.
‘Since the construction of renewable energy infrastructure takes longer, pilot investments will likely start in this area first,’ Representative Cha noted in an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper. ‘The scale of the pilot investment alone is expected to reach several trillion won.’
Given that a main investment agreement generally follows quickly after the submission of an LOI, the signing of the MOU between the Korean government and BlackRock is expected to gain momentum.
Furthermore, there are several other deals under discussion beyond this pilot investment, which could lead to tens of trillions of won in additional investments.
According to Representative Cha, building AI data centers alone will require at least 50 to 60 trillion won, while current talks have focused only on infrastructure investments. By Ji Hye-jin, Park Na-eun, and Yoon Yeon-hae
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
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