"How much output curtailment occurs, and how much does it affect the utilization rate?"
"The design life is 20 years — what have the actual operating results been like?"
At the Hallim Offshore Wind Farm in Jeju on Tuesday, around 20 loan underwriters and corporate relationship managers (RMs) from Hana Bank peppered on-site officials with questions ranging from technical specifications to commercial viability. The group was participating in the bank's "Productive Finance Capacity Building Program." The facility, Korea's largest offshore wind farm at 100.08 MW, was completed last year and served as more than a simple field trip — it was closer to a hands-on due diligence exercise for the participants.
Credit review officers and RMs at the site fired off risk management questions such as "Have there been any insurance claims during operations?" and "How do you manage risks from undersea cable breaks or foundation structure failures?" One participant asked whether turbines — which shut down when wind speeds exceed 25 meters per second — stop automatically during typhoons as well. Son Kuk-jin, general manager of Hana Bank's project finance division, said, "Offshore wind is one of the areas attracting the most interest among productive finance targets. This project is particularly valuable as a reference case because it is a large-scale project that uses domestically manufactured turbines."
The atmosphere was similar at the Gasiri Onshore Wind Farm. Participants engaged in detailed discussions about whether there are gaps between accounting depreciation and actual performance degradation for equipment that has been operating for more than 10 years, and whether adjusting blade angles could further improve generation efficiency. At the Gasiri Solar Power Complex visited afterward, questions bridging field operations and sales emerged, such as what advice clients would need during business feasibility reviews.
Topics expanded to cover the broader power business, including long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) structures and energy storage system (ESS) integration methods. One participant said, "Seeing the site in person raised even more questions and deepened my understanding. It was genuinely helpful for understanding clients who are reviewing renewable energy projects."
The program combines industry analysis education with on-site field visits, aligned with the bank's push to expand productive finance. This was the first time the bank organized a field training session that brought together staff from diverse functions rather than limiting participation to specialized units such as the project finance division. A Hana Financial Group official said, "It started from the recognition that you have to properly understand industries and technologies to properly design financing. Continuous learning is essential, especially for advanced industries."
Hana Bank plans to expand the field training program beyond Jeju. Next month's session will focus on physical artificial intelligence (AI), and the second half of the year will cover bio and entertainment industries. The aim is to build capabilities for making judgments based on actual business structures and operating environments, going beyond document-based reviews. Earlier this year, the bank also launched an "Industry Analysis Course" that runs in parallel, featuring lectures by analysts and academic experts alongside corporate case studies.
Through these efforts, the bank aims to build a productive finance model that goes beyond simply supplying funds to involve the entire process — from business feasibility reviews and deal structuring to financial arrangement. Kang Jung-han, deputy president and head of Hana Bank's HR support group, said, "We will continue to expand training programs to raise expertise and insight into advanced strategic industries. We will support headquarters and frontline operations to work together organically, delivering financing that backs corporate growth and innovation."
