Special Act on the Promotion of Offshore Wind Power Deployment and the Development of Related Industries

In force since 26 March 2026 together with its Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules, the Special Act is the single most consequential change to this framework. It moves Korea from developer led site acquisition to a government led planned siting regime.

Planned siting. The state builds a siting information network, designates preliminary zones and then development zones, and selects developers by competitive bidding within them. Private led site development is effectively ended. Three years from promulgation, new EBLs are barred outside those zones, and new public waters permits for measurement masts were barred outside planned zones immediately.

One stop approval. Once an operator's implementation plan is approved, roughly 28 statutory authorizations are deemed granted, the EBL and public waters occupancy among them. A single environmental review can replace both the environmental impact assessment and the marine use impact assessment.

Governance and consent. An Offshore Wind Power Committee under the Prime Minister oversees the regime, supported by a working-level committee and the inter-ministerial Offshore Wind Power Promotion Group, and the Decree seats the Coast Guard and the national intelligence service ex officio. Zone designation and benefit-sharing run through a public-private consultative body in which representatives of fishers and residents hold at least half the seats. An incumbent that meets the criteria can have its existing site treated as a development zone.