The three-phase plan calls for the construction of a "proving area" by 2013 to test 20 5-megawatt turbines. An additional 180 5-megawatt turbines will be installed by 2016 for the second phase, followed by 300 5-megawatt turbines by 2019 at the proposed facility, to generate a total of 2,500 megawatts of electricity.

"The plan is to make South Korea the world's third-largest country in terms of offshore wind power generation," Kang Nam-hoon, head of the ministry's energy and climate change policy division, told reporters, state-run Yonhap news agency reports.

"And to be able to export related equipment and technology, we need a good track record of actually building and operating such facilities. The project partly aims to do that," he said.

While the project's turbines are to come from various South Korean manufacturers, 2009 data from the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning show that in term of technology, the level of South Korea's offshore wind farm technology is 68 percent compared to that of industry leaders.

Ministry officials acknowledged that the project has been scaled down from a plan announced in September to build up to 1,000 wind turbines by 2019.

South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest energy consumer and polluter, pledged last year to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent from a 2020 forecast, a 4 percent reduction from 2005 levels.

Tuesday's offshore wind power project announcement comes a few weeks after South Korea said it would invest $36 billion over the next five years in developing renewable energy sources, as the country aims to reduce its heavy dependence on oil and gas imports while tackling greenhouse gas emissions.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration expects the country to become one of the world's top five clean energy powers in 2015 and forecasts its exports of clean energy to reach $36.2 billion in 2015.

"The solar energy and wind power industries can become the backbone of our economy like the semiconductor and shipbuilding industries," The Korea Times quoted Lee as saying in announcing the plan last month.

In September, Seoul announced measures to promote the use of renewable energy among government agencies and private firms.

Under those regulations, electric power companies generating more than 500 megawatts of electricity per hour must diversify their portfolio of energy sources beginning in 2012 and by 2022 increase the supply of electricity generated from renewable energy sources to 10 percent.

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