Conergy completes Asia's largest Solar Power Plant in South Korea and gets commissioned with the turnkey construction of additional 4.35 MW
19,6 MWp, €90 million photovoltaic plant fully operational six months ahead of schedule; Extension of Asia's Largest Solar Power Plant to 24 MWp indicates Korea's potential in becoming a world leader for Renewable Energies
Tweet-- Conergy Korea, subsidiary of the stock-listed company Conergy AG, announced today a framework agreement for a 4.35 MWp extension (worth approximately € 20 million) of Asia’s largest, recently completed photovoltaic plant (19.6 MWp) in SinAn, southwest of the Korean capital Seoul. Thanks to the perfect synergy between client DongYang Engineering & Construction Corporation and the renewable energy technology expertise of Conergy, the 19,6 MWp, € 90 million project was fully operational in June 2008, six months ahead of schedule. Based on this outstanding engineering achievement, DongYang appointed Conergy with the turnkey construction of an additional 4.35 MWp. The extension of Asia’s Largest Solar Power Plant to 24 MWp is expected to be fully grid-connected before the year is over marking a major milestone for Korea in becoming a worldwide leader in clean energy.
Jihun Kim, CEO Conergy Korea, “Building Asia’s largest solar power plant is a landmark moment for the renewable energy sector in Korea. The success, scale and technical sophistication of the project is a model of how we can lead Korea into a new era of renewable energy production through strong and trusted partnerships between international experience and technical knowledge, Korean construction and engineering expertise, and ambitious local and federal government planning and policy.”
New best-practice engineering and construction standards
Asia and Korea’s flagship solar project broke ground on May 12th, 2007. Since then, a highly proficient and dedicated team of 230 people has worked day and night to complete the 19,6 MWp plant in record time. Together with the extension, the completed 24MWp will cover an area of 720,000m2, an equivalent of 96 soccer fields. Once fully operational, the solar power plant will produce annually 33,000 MWh - enough to supply 7,200 households with environmentally-friendly energy year after year. For the largest single-axis tracking system in the world, 69 Solar Optimus tracker systems developed by Conergy will be installed in SinAn, increasing the energy yield up to 20%. The 24 MW solar project alone will help Korea reduce CO2 emissions by 24,000 tons a year or the equivalent of planting 168,000 trees**.
DongYang Engineering & Construction said, “Considering the scale, high-technicality and speed of delivery of this project, this is a very significant engineering achievement for Korea to celebrate and points to Korea’s potential as a renewable energy producer. Korean companies, working with strategic partners like Conergy, can create a vibrant, dynamic and self-sustaining renewable energy market for Korea to benefit from economically and environmentally.”
Progress of Korea’s renewable energy sector
A key goal of the Government’s 2003 second 10-year National Basic Plan for NRW (New and Renewable) Technology Development and Deployment is to supply 5% of domestic energy requirements through renewable and alternative energy sources by 2010, as well as produce 1GW of solar energy by 2012. Since the introduction of the Government’s feed-in-tariff policy in 2002, the number of photovoltaic installations has increased rapidly. In 2007, 134 photovoltaic installations were connected to the grid, growing 163% from 51 installed in 2006. Today, the total amount of commercial solar power production in Korea has grown to over 160MW.
Discussing the significance of this 24MWp plant for Korea, Stefan Mueller, Conergy’s Asia-Pacific Managing Director, said “Korea’s progress in the development of the solar industry is facing a major crossroads beyond 2009. There are serious concerns within the industry as to whether the changes to the feed-in-tariff policy for large-scale projects will be sufficient to encourage more world-class developments such as SinAn and help reach Korea’s ambitious target of producing 1GW of solar energy by 2012.”
With the price of a barrel of oil surging over US$130, the announcement is timely in pointing to the future potential of the renewable energy sector in Korea. Meeting Korean solar production targets of 1GW could create 37,000 jobs within a solar ecosystem sector and a leading industry worth KRW 5.3 trillion.
For press-quality images, please contact Ms Lyn Toh at +65 6849-4467 or l.toh@conergy.com
* 1 EUR = 1,618.86 KRW (as of 23rd June 2008)
** Carbonneutral.com estimates that the number of trees required per tonne of CO2 varies from 4 – 10 depending on location, species of tree, soil type and type of planting. For these calculations 7 trees was used as an average figure.
Notes to Editor
More about Conergy Korea
Conergy Korea is the leading provider of turnkey systems for the utilization of renewable energies and a subsidiary of the stock-listed Conergy AG. Established in Seoul since 2006, Conergy is one of the early pioneers for solar power plant engineering in South Korea. The renewable energy expert successfully commissioned Korea’s first megawatt projects in MuAn and Incheon in 2006 with a peak output of 1 MWp each, followed by another 1 MWp project in Hwasung in 2007. Despite building the largest solar power plant in Asia, Conergy also completed photovoltaic project in YeongChun (1 MWp) as well as in Hampyeong with an output of 2 MWp. With a continuously strong project pipeline, Conergy is strategically well positioned to increase its market leading position in Korea.