OCI strikes solar energy deal in US

By Kim Yoo-chul

OCI, Korea’s biggest maker of polysilicon, has inked an agreement with CPS Energy of the United States for the construction of a massive 400-megawatt solar energy facility, the company said.

The announcement comes as OCI suffers decreasing profit and being targeted by the Chinese government over suspicious polysilicon dumping.

On Tuesday, the Korean company said that its affiliate in the United States ― OCI Solar Power ― will provide solar electricity to CPS over the next 25 years. OCI will establish its U.S. head office in San Antonio of Texas to provide electricity for some 70,000 households, or 10 percent of the U.S. firm’s customers. It will generate $1 billion for construction investment.

Supplier Nexelon America will also establish a $100 million manufacturing operation to build solar panels there, said an OCI spokesman Park Sang-bae.

``OCI, Nexelon and other suppliers involved in the solar project are expected to create 800 jobs in San Antonio with a combined annual payroll of $40 million,’’ Park said.

OCI Solar Power aims to produce 50-megawatt electricity from the middle of next year and the company plans to complete the construction by the end of 2016, the statement said.

OCI pins high hopes on the latest agreement to help to expand its solar business in the United States. The company reported a disappointing quarterly result in the second quarter of this year.

During the April-June period, OCI posted 94 billion won operating profit ― a decline of 74.1 percent from a year ago, while net profit fell by 76 percent to 70.7 billion won, OCI said in a regulatory filing to the Korea Exchange.