Hyundai Motor expands power supply with solar cells at Ulsan plant

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Leading South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. is building more solar cell power supply facilities at its main Ulsan plant. With this, the company plans to move towards sustainable and CO₂-neutral manufacturing. Construction work began in November on additional solar panels to expand the power generation capacity from the current 9 megawatts to 15 megawatts, with commissioning planned for September 2023. After that, the carmaker could consume up to 20,000 MWh of electrical energy from solar power at its main Ulsan plant annually. This figure is equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of the total annual electricity consumption of 1.29 million MWh supplied by the state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp. Equipment and components from this sector usually require KC certification to be approved for import and operation in Korea.

Hyundai is also considering expanding its 10-megawatt solar plant at the Asan factory and increasing photovoltaic power generation at its research centres to 3 megawatts from the current 562 kilowatts. New plants, including an EV production facility under construction in the US state of Georgia, will be equipped with solar cells as standard. Hyundai plans to build its own sustainable power plants by 2045 as part of its CO₂ neutrality. This will affect all Hyundai Group companies such as Kia and Hyundai Mobis.

Leading car manufacturers around the world are striving to build their own plants to supply electricity with sustainable energy. Especially in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and climate change, a self-sufficient energy supply is important to many car companies. For example, the German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is planning to build a wind power plant on its test track by 2025. In addition, it is investing millions of euros in solar panels as part of its plan to obtain 70 % of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Another corporation, General Motors Co, also set up its own division, “GM Energy”, to generate and sell energy.

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