Hyundai Motor Ulsan plant to generate electricity
Hyundai Motor storage yard in Ulsan / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor
By Nam Hyun-woo
A large storage yard at Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant will be used for solar power generation, producing electricity which 10,000 households can use a year, the carmaker said Thursday.
The metropolitan government of Ulsan, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Commercial signed a multilateral MOU to set up solar panels in the plant's storage yard and vehicle proving ground covering 264,500 square meters.
The facility, a 27 megawatt solar power generation system, will be completed by 2020 and will be capable of generating 35 million kilowatt-hours a year. That is a capacity covering 10,000 households a year, and replacing 8,000 tons of crude oil.
The solar power facility will also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions reduction, cutting 16,500 tons in CO2 emissions a year, which is tantamount to planting 2.5 million 30-year-old pine trees, Hyundai Motor said.
“This will be the country's largest solar power project using idle land owned by Hyundai,” a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy official said. “Since the electricity is used where it is produced, this eliminates additional investment. It also reduces concerns about residents' opposition and environmental damage.”
The MOU is the first private-public solar energy project in Korea, in line with the government's initiative to have 20 percent of the country's energy generation coming from a renewable source by 2030.
The total capacity of newly established renewable power generation in the first five months of the year stood at 1.4 gigawatts, which accounts for 84 percent of this year's target of 1.7 gigawatts.
The government has also raised next year's budget for renewable energy to 773.2 billion won, up 199.3 from this year. Those funds will be used to supporting renewable energy researchers, distributing and financing facilities.
Hyundai Motor said it plans to use used electric vehicle batteries as an energy storage system for the Ulsan solar plant.
This is not the first time that Hyundai Motor tapped into solar power generation. In 2013, it teamed up with Korea Midland Power and built an array of solar panels covering the 213,000 square-meter roof of its plant in Asan, South Chuncheong Province. This is capable of producing 11.5 million kilowatt-hours a year.