Hyundai to Build Wind Power Facility
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, has announced plans to build the country's largest manufacturing plant for wind-power generators in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.
Hyundai will invest 105.7 billion won (about $76 million) to construct the 132,000 square-meter plant, which is to be completed by September and start manufacturing 1.65 megawatt-generators the following month, the company said Monday.
It hopes to find a significant market for the wind-power generators in the United States, China and Europe.
The Gunsan factory will have an annual production capacity of 600 megawatts (MW), roughly enough to power 200,000 households, although Hyundai plans to boost capacity to 800 MW by 2013, when it expects to have a more diversified product lineup.
The company hopes to generate around 1.6 trillion won in revenue from the generators made at the Gunsan plant, which is expected to hire about 500 workers.
The global market for the generators will grow to $250 billion by 2017, from the $31 billion in 2007, according to Danish business consulting firm BTM.
Hyundai has been selling wind-power generators and components such as transformers and power converters since 1998.
``We expect to gain a lead in the world's growing market for alternative energy generation, and our Gusan plant will be at the center of our goals,'' Choi Kil-sun, chief executive of Hyundai, said in a statement.
The big boys of heavy industries have been showing an increasing interest in the market for ``green energy,'' motivated by the government's initiatives to support the industrial growth of the alternative energy sector.
The companies are also looking to develop new revenue sources as they reel from declining orders in the global market for ships, which provided their bread and butter for years.
Hyundai is expected to see competition from its industry archrival, Samsung Heavy Industries, which wants a piece of the global market for the generators.
Hyundai is also involved in solar energy, spending 34 billion won to construct a solar-cell producing plant in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, and plans to put an additional 300 billion won into the business, which includes a second factory by 2010.
Hyundai expects the sales of solar cells and modules to reach 1 trillion won by 2010, driven by an expected rise in global demand.