Demonstration facility for development of solar waste module resource development technology developed by Wonkwang Electric Power Co., which was selected as the organizer of the 2017 Korea Electric Power Corp. project on ‘Development of technologies for the development of solar waste modules’.





Wonkwang Electric Power Co., located in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, has contributed to the power generation project, which is the driving force of the nation's infrastructure, for 32 years since its establishment in 1988. Wonkwang Electric Power Co., currently a partner in distribution unit price of Korea Electric Power Corp., is one of the most competitive companies in the province with one-stop processing system from solar consultancy power to construction, maintenance (O&M) and waste module processing. In addition, the company has set up an affiliated research institute in Gwangju to carry out research and development of new energy technologies, which are the driving forces of future growth, while also focusing on securing technical skills.



Because Wonkwang Electric Power Co. has far superior technical skills than its size, it is a company that is apt to be described as strong. Although it is not as well-known as conglomerates, it is recognized for its solid skills by owners and buyers in the field. The company, which has more than 50 employees, has always been accompanied by the term "first" for more than 30 years.



It was the first time for KEPCO to participate in the contract. For the first time, the Korea Electric Power Corporation has developed a power-free gas-disposal method. It is the first company in South Korea to build its own low-pressure solar power plant and open an era of private solar power generation. Kim Dae-jung Convention Center, Gwangju, Korea in 2005 in the parking lot first time in Korea mw class Unified Execution Technology for renewable energy and constructs the solar power generation. Wonkwang Electric Power Co. received the Order of Stone Pagoda Industrial Merit in April this year at the 54th Electricity Day ceremony.



In particular, Wonkwang Electric Power Co. was selected by the Korea Electric Power Corp. as the organizer of the "Development of Technology for Resources for Abandoned Modules in Solar Energy" project in 2017, and is successfully completing the collection, recycling (export), crushing and resourceization of waste modules. According to related industries, the amount of solar power installed in South Korea until 2017 is 5.7 GW, which is increasing every year, but a large number of solar modules installed in the early stages have reached their lifespan of 15 to 20 years and are now beginning to be discarded. As the industry expects that 28,000 tons of solar waste modules will be generated by 2025, and more than 20,000 tons of waste modules will be released annually from 2024.





Solar energy modules can negatively affect the environment, such as soil and water quality, if they are dumped defenseless due to their inclusion of oil and environmental pollutants. Moreover, most of the rare metals used in solar modules depend on imports, which opens the way for replacing imports of raw materials when the technology to retrieve them is developed. Due to this reason, not only is oil-based materials recovered from solar energy modules that have reached their end of life, but also because some harmful materials are included, it is strictly regulated by classifying them as electric and electronic waste.



Reflecting this situation, the Korea Electric Power Corp. carried out a project called "Developing technologies for resource utilization of solar waste modules and demonstrating Biz models," which is a research and development project for energy new technologies, starting in 2016. The project is organized by Wonkwang Electric Power Co., and involves the Green Energy Institute, Mirae Asset-I, Chonnam National University, Chosun University and Korea Institute of Production Technology. Through the project, the company plans to complete a demonstration of the Biz model for developing technologies for the naturalization of solar waste modules and commercializing low-cost plants that have secured economic feasibility by December 2019. It is expected that it will contribute much to processing waste modules from solar energy once it is verified.



Wonkwang Electric Power has made inroads into solar power facilities in Vietnam as well as in Korea. In July, Wonkwang Electric Power signed a business agreement with Bamboo Capital Group in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, for mutual cooperation, including technology and product development in the solar power sector, and entered the solar power market in Vietnam in earnest. Vietnam, which has an annual economic growth rate of 6 percent, plans to triple its power generation facilities to the current level by 2030. In particular, the renewable energy sector, including solar power, will expand to 21 percent by 2030.



Through this agreement, the two companies will push for cooperation in renewable energy projects in Vietnam, technological cooperation in renewable energy, development of solar power, microgrid (MG) and new markets for ESS (Energy Storage System) industries. Under the latest cooperation project, the government has decided to discuss mutual cooperation measures to build a 4MW solar power plant in Vietnam, and to make related projects visible.



Starting next year, we will start commercial operations to recycle key resources such as tempered glass, aluminum and silicon to secure intellectual property rights, Jeon said, stressing that only companies that change rapidly in line with the changes of the times can win the competition and grow into old companies. /Hanam = Kim Sun-deok, reporter, sdkim@sedaily.com



Source: https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1VS23QLYVU