Pacifico and Hana sign Jindo Offshore Wind financial MOU for 3.2GW cluster

Pacifico Energy Korea, Hana Bank and Hana Securities have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance financial cooperation for the Jindo Offshore Wind financial MOU, covering a 3.2GW cluster off the South Korean coast. The signing took place on 12 June at Hana Securities’ offices in Yeouido, Seoul, and was attended by senior executives from all three organisations.

An MOU is a statement of intent, not a financing commitment. That distinction matters at this scale. What the parties have agreed is to jointly develop financial solutions and funding strategies across all phases of the project, from development through construction and into operation. The disciplines in scope include project financing, financial advisory and investment attraction.

What the Jindo Offshore Wind financial MOU actually covers

The cluster sits in Jindo County, South Jeolla Province, according to Pacifico Energy Korea. It comprises three separate projects: Myeong Ryang Offshore Wind at 420MW, Manho Offshore Wind at 990MW, and Jindo Baram Offshore Wind at 1.8GW. Together they account for the full 3.2GW headline figure.

Seung-Ho Choe, Representative Director of Pacifico Energy Korea, described the rationale plainly: ‘A robust and professional financial partnership is as essential as a competitive supply chain for the successful development of GW-scale offshore wind projects.’ He characterised the arrangement as ‘the first of its kind’ in bringing Korean financial institutions and a U.S.-based offshore wind developer together to ‘jointly build the foundation for the growth of Korea’s offshore wind industry.’

That framing is worth examining. A U.S.-based developer partnering with domestic Korean banks for project finance on a Korean asset is not unusual in the broader offshore wind market. What may be more material is the combined institutional weight of Hana Bank and Hana Securities on a single project cluster at this scale. Korean project finance for GW-scale offshore wind is still finding its footing, and the involvement of two significant domestic financial institutions from the outset is at least a positive structural signal, even if the MOU itself commits no capital.

Korea’s energy transition ambitions and what project finance requires

Byung-sik Lee, Deputy President of the IB Group at Hana Bank, framed the agreement in terms of national policy, saying the MOU ‘serves as a model of productive finance, demonstrating how the financial sector can make a substantive contribution to national priorities such as the energy transition and carbon neutrality.’ He added that the bank is ‘committed to fulfilling our role in advancing productive finance across all phases from project development and construction to operation.’

That language reflects a broader dynamic in Korean energy finance: government policy has set offshore wind expansion as a strategic priority, and domestic banks are under real pressure to demonstrate alignment with those goals. Whether that pressure translates into genuinely competitive project finance terms, or into a series of MOUs that look good in a ceremony and stall in due diligence, is what the next phase of the Jindo cluster will test.

Yung-Kyoon Jung, Deputy President and Head of Investment Banking Group at Hana Securities, attended the signing alongside the other senior executives, reflecting the investment banking dimension of the arrangement alongside the lending side.

For offshore wind project finance at this scale, the path from MOU to financial close typically involves power purchase agreement certainty, grid connection confirmation, and environmental permitting milestones. None of those are mentioned as conditions or timelines in the current agreement. The Jindo Offshore Wind financial MOU establishes the partnership architecture. The harder work of stress-testing that architecture against actual project risk sits ahead.

Pacifico Energy Korea describes the project as covering all phases from development through construction to operation. The involvement of both a lending institution and a securities house suggests the funding strategy could combine debt financing with capital markets instruments, though no structure has been confirmed under the terms of this MOU.