South Korea says 6 European firms to invest $929 million in wind power, batteries

SEOUL (Reuters) - Six European companies will invest in projects worth a total of 1.2 trillion won ($929.27 million) in South Korea, spanning areas such as batteries and renewable energy, the country's industry ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ministry's announcement came as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited France this week.

The companies - Imerys, Umicore, Continental, Nylacast, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Equinor - will invest in fields including batteries, automotive materials and offshore wind power, the ministry said.

CIP plans to invest $350 million in gigawatt-scale offshore wind projects to support South Korea's ambitious wind power target, CIP said in a statement.

Equinor said the investment is a reinforcement of its interests in Korea, in which its 'Firefly' renewables project located offshore the city of Ulsan will have a capacity of approximately 800 megawatts when commissioned around 2028, although it has yet to make a final investment decision.

Other companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There were no further details on how much each company intended to invest or whether any projects had been previously announced.

Yoon is due to travel to Vietnam later this week for a three-day state visit.

($1 = 1,291.3400 won)

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Ed Davies)