Vena Group submits plan to invest $14 bil. in Korea's renewable energy, AI projects
A captured image from Vena Group's official YouTube video / Yonhap
Vena Group, one of the largest renewable energy developers in the Asia-Pacific region, has expressed its intention to invest 20 trillion won ($14 billion) in Korean projects to develop renewable energy solutions and build an artificial intelligence (AI) data center, the government said Thursday.
Vena Group has submitted a letter of intent (LOI) for the investment to the Korean government, according to the climate and science ministries.
In the LOI, Vena Group made a proposal to invest a combined 20 trillion won in a number of Korean projects, including one aimed at developing renewable energy solutions, such as solar and wind power, as well as battery energy storage systems.
The others include Korea's plan to build an AI data center utilizing renewable energy sources, a 500-megawatt (MW) offshore wind power project and another 384 MW offshore wind power project.
Vena Group is a fully owned subsidiary of the world's biggest investment management company, BlackRock, and is currently operating or building a combined 9.7 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy facilities in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Southeast Asia, according to the ministries.
Last month, Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with BlackRock Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Larry Fink to discuss partnership in AI and renewable energy.
Vena Group's potential investment is in line with the Lee administration's plan to triple the country's renewable energy capacity to 100 GW by 2030 from the current 34 GW.