Hanwha inks largest supply deal for US community solar biz

South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions Corp. is set to sell 2.5 million modules to US community solar programs through the largest-ever supply deal for such projects.

Hanwha Q Cells Co., a unit of Hanwha Solutions, said it has signed a deal to provide Summit Ridge Energy (SRE), the nation’s largest commercial solar company, with 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels. The capacity of the community solar program installed in Washington, D.C. and 41 states totaled 5.6 GW as of end-2022.

The two companies have yet to unveil the deal’s value, but industry sources estimated it in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Hanwha Solutions' stocks ended up 2.3% to 50,900 won ($38.7) on Friday in Seoul’s main stock market, far outperforming a 1.3% gain in the wider Kospi.

SRE will use the solar panels to develop more than 350 solar projects over the next four years in California, New York, Ohio and other states, with the first 200 megawatts (MW) to be installed before the end of 2023. Once complete, the projects will generate enough clean electricity to power an estimated 140,000 homes and businesses, further cementing SRE’s position as the nation’s leading community solar provider. The agreement between the two companies also includes 20 MWh of energy storage.

The community solar programs make solar more accessible to all Americans, particularly to those with low-to-moderate incomes, renters, and other community members for whom traditional rooftop solar is unavailable. Rather than putting solar panels on their own home or building, community solar allows energy users to subscribe to a shared system of solar panels, often located within their community.

EXEMPLARY CASE

US Vice President Kamala Harris praised a solar panel factory in the state of Georgia operated by Hanwha Solutions, citing the plant as one of the best examples of job creation and investment expansion promoted by the Biden Administration in the renewable energy sector.

Harris on Thursday toured the solar panel module plant in Dalton and a nearby site where Hanwha has been expanding its production lines, making her first visit to a South Korean company’s facilities in the US, to show off the achievements of the Biden Administration’s policies including the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Since taking office, our administration has made the largest investment in solar energy in our nation’s history,″ Harris was quoted as saying by Hanwha in a speech at the plant, adding that Dalton has become the largest solar panel module production base in the US that manufactures the world’s best modules.

“We provided tax credits to encourage companies to buy solar panels made in America. And we invested billions more to build and expand factories like this one,” Harris said.

Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan reaffirmed its plan to establish a complete solar supply chain with a $2.5 billion investment.

In January, Hanwha unveiled plans to build a fully integrated silicon-based supply chain in the US, making the company the first to do so. When complete, its solar panels will be fully made in the United States.

“We will set up a solar panel value chain production line, from raw material polysilicon to finished product modules, in the US based on the solar hub project,” Kim said. “We will also create more than 2,500 high-quality jobs by next year and stably supply solar panel modules that provide clean energy to millions of households every year.”

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim and Mi Sun Kang at khk@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.