South Korea

Falling module prices will help PV post another record year after an estimated 132 GW was installed worldwide in 2020, according to an energy transition investment trends report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

A new Wood Mackenzie report suggests that costs for front-of-the-meter battery storage systems in the Asia-Pacific region could fall by 30% by 2025. The declining costs are already having a palpable impact, as 2021 has opened with a slew of large-scale battery project announcements.

The Korea Energy Agency (KEA) will likely launch two 2 GW tenders in April and October. These will include the procurement of large-scale solar PV parks for the first time.

Fortescue Metals Group Chairman Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest returned to Western Australia last week after a four-month worldwide search for green energy projects and resources. One of the deals secured on the trip was a circular green hydrogen partnership with South Korean steelmaker Posco.

Power purchase agreements will be allowed between renewable energy producers owning plants with a capacity of more than 1 MW and electricity consumers. Local utility Kepco, however, will keep serving as an intermediary.

Researchers in South Korea have fabricated a fully transparent solar cell which they claim has a transmittance for visible light of more than 57%. The integrated device generates enough power to move a small-sized motor.

The solar cell was developed by Korean scientists for power-generating window applications. They built the device with transparent conducting oxide (TCO) rear contacts and a textured polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer with light-scattering and antireflection properties.

The 275,000 metric tons of annual polysilicon production facilities pushed out of the industry by the expansion of big Chinese producers is more than double the capacity lost in the last great poly market shake-out, between 2010 and 2013.

LG Chem is spinning off its battery business into a new subsidiary, LG Energy Solution. It also launched two new battery series, Resu Prime and Resu Flex. These devices rely on new battery cells with a higher power density and with up to 16 kWh, they have a higher capacity than previous models. The first products are expected to be shipped from February or March 2021.

Scientists in South Korea developed a new electrode structure for a solid-state battery which they say could lead to both higher energy densities and simplified manufacturing processes for this promising energy storage technology.