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Korea Herald
23-04-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
With new US duties on solar imports, Hanwha, OCI eye bigger market share
Korean energy companies, namely Hanwha Qcells and OCI Holdings, are expected to benefit from the United States' decision to impose tariffs of up to 3,500 percent on solar energy imports from Southeast Asia. Earlier this week, the US Department of Commerce released the final tariff amounts planned for solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The antidumping and countervailing duties seek to protect American solar panel manufacturing. The decision came after the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, which includes Hanwha Qcells, a solar energy unit under Korea's Hanwha Solution, Arizona-based First Solar, and other smaller energy companies, filed a petition in April last year, prompting the US authorities to begin the investigation. The group claimed that Chinese companies were producing solar products in Southeast Asia to avoid paying tariffs on their exports, and were subsidized by the governments of the four aforementioned countries. These products would then be "dumped" into the US market at low prices that other solar panel manufacturers could not compete with. As the announcement of the tariffs on Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam puts pressure on China's major solar panel producers, the US solar panel supply chain will be rearranged with Korean companies becoming key players, Kang Dong-jin, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities, said in a report on Wednesday. 'The antidumping and countervailing duties will be added to (the US') reciprocal tariffs and (the four countries) will weaken in terms of their competitiveness in American exports,' said Kang. 'Aside from these four countries, other nations will also find it difficult to export solar cells and modules to the US.' The analyst selected Hanwha Solution as the most preferred stock in the solar energy industry as the Korean company is setting up what it calls 'Solar Hub,' a 3 trillion won ($2.1 billion) investment to establish a complete solar panel production chain in the state of Georgia. Once the Solar Hub project is completed by year-end, Hanwha will secure an annual production capacity of 8.4 gigawatts and ramp up its US production portion to 70 percent. Kang also pinpointed OCI Holdings as a stock to keep an eye on. The Korean company is investing $265 million to build solar cell production plant in Texas. OCI Holdings plans to begin commercial production of 1 GW solar cells in the first half of next year and gradually increase the capacity later to eventually reach 2 GW. 'Hanwha Qcells had been suffering due to dumped and subsidized solar panel imports from Southeast Asian countries despite investing heavily in its US production,' said an official working in the solar energy sector. 'The tariffs will give the Korean companies fair competition in the US market.' The tariffs on the Southeast Asian countries will go into effect after and if the US International Trade Commission makes a final ruling by June 2 that the American solar panel industry was harmed due to the imports from those nations.
Korea Herald
20-03-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
OCI Holdings to invest $265m in new Texas production plant
OCI Holdings, a South Korean chemical and renewable energy company, announced Thursday that it will build an independent solar cell production plant at its US subsidiary, Mission Solar Energy, in Texas. The $265 million facility is set to begin commercial production of 1 gigawatt cells in early 2026, with plans to expand to 2GW by the end of the year. The initiative aims to strengthen the company's competitiveness in the US market, as US tariff policies against China have raised market uncertainties. The project will establish a fully independent supply chain using OCI TerraSus polysilicon, which is produced in Malaysia with eco-friendly hydropower and complies with RE100 standards and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. With the US facing a 90 percent solar cell supply shortage, OCI's production is expected to meet strong market demand. The facility will also benefit from Inflation Reduction Act incentives, including a $0.04 per watt Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit and a 10 percent Investment Tax Credit for projects using US-made components. 'This marks the beginning of US-produced solar cells made with OCI TerraSus polysilicon,' said Lee Woo-hyun, chairman of OCI Holdings. 'This project will further strengthen our US solar value chain.'
Korea Herald
24-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
OCI Holdings partners with Arava Power to build 260MW solar farm in Texas
US Inflation Reduction Act, energy community bonus expected to return up to 40 percent of investment to involved companies OCI Holdings said Monday that its United States subsidiary OCI Energy has teamed up with Arava Power, an Israeli solar energy firm, to build a 260 megawatt solar power plant in Wharton County, Texas. According to the announcement, each side will contribute 50 percent into the project named Sun Roper, which is expected to begin construction later this year and be complete by the end of next year. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The Sun Roper project will cover an area of about 6.93 million square meters and produce enough electricity to power approximately 60,000 households per day. OCI Holdings explained that the Sun Roper project is estimated to result in high profitability as it can receive up to 40 percent of its investment back. The US government's Inflation Reduction Act supports investment tax credits of about 30 percent with an added 10 percent expected from the energy community bonus. The Sun Roper project marks the latest collaboration between OCI Energy and Arava Power as they continue to build on a partnership that began when the former sold project Sun Ray, a 200 MW solar farm in Uvalde County, Texas, to the latter in 2021. 'OCI Energy has established itself as the leading solar power developer in Texas, currently holding a 15 percent market share,' said Lee Woo-hyun, chairman of OCI Holdings. 'This year, we plan to expand our solar business beyond Texas to create new revenue streams." OCI Energy has continued to invest in the North American utility-scale solar and energy storage system markets since 2011. The Korean energy company currently operates over 10 solar power and ESS project pipelines, which totals about 5.2 gigawatt in energy capacity.
