Hanwha leading solar energy industry

South Chungcheong Province Governor Ahn Hee-jung speaks during a launching ceremony for a Hanwha-driven Creative Economy Center project to help startups in his province at the project’s control office in Cheonan, Friday. / Yonhap

By Park Si-soo

Hanwha Group’s plan to build a solar energy business cluster in South Chungcheong Province reflects its leader Kim Seung-youn’s strong commitment to taking the renewable energy source as the firm’s next growth engine.

The company is already the nation’s biggest solar cell maker and one of the leading players worldwide, with its business supervised by Kim’s eldest son, Dong-kwan. Yet it keeps increasing investment in the segment, betting big on its growth potential.

The plan came only one day after Hanwha Q Cells, the group’s solar cell-making affiliate, announced that it will build a new plant in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province. The plant will put the company in a better position to increase its market share in the United States, the world’s biggest market, and cement its status as the world’s biggest solar cell maker, according to Hanwha officials.

Hanwha Q Cells last month signed a deal to sell 1.5-gigawatt solar modules to U.S.-based NextEra Energy by 2016, the single-largest deal in the industry.

In the latest event, the group will form a strategic partnership with 500 small-and medium-sized solar energy companies in South Chungcheong Province to create a cluster of solar energy businesses where Hanwha and partnered firms will do manufacturing, research and development and incubate newcomers.

It will spend 110 billion won ($100.9 million) financing startups and nurturing them. It also plans to raise 10 billion won to help overseas expansion.

The firm is also considering sending its solar energy specialists to startups and sharing its technology and know-how with them.

“This province will become a pivotal testing bed for the domestic solar energy industry,” a Hanwha spokesman said.

One of the biggest missions in the project was to make Jukdo, a small island off the southwestern coast with some 70 residents, self-sustainable with renewable energy, the spokesman said. Hanwha Q Cells and two other energy subsidiaries of Hanwha have signed an agreement with the province to launch the 2.5 billion won project.

“This project will give residents a better environment to live in,” he said. “At the same time, it will test the efficiency of renewable energy, especially solar energy. If the experiment turns out to be successful, we will apply it in seven other islands in the province.”

He said the experiment would turn the island into a tourist attraction.

Hanwha jumped into the solar business in August 2010 by acquiring a Chinese solar cell manufacturer Solarfun Power Holdings for 435 billion won and renamed it the following year as Hanwha SolarOne. In 2012, it took over struggling German solar cell and module maker Q Cells. The two solar companies were merged in February this year and named Hanwha Q Cells.

Hanwha has set the bold target of becoming the world’s leading solar energy company in terms of cell production, sales and profit by 2020.

Global markets for solar panels are growing with the rapid adoption of solar panels, according to a report by WinterGreen Research. According to the data, the global solar panels market is expected to grow to $180.7 billion by 2021.