Hanwha Group(http://www.hanwha.co.kr)has succeeded in taking over the German solar cell maker, Q-Cells, in the process defeating its global rivals such as Bosch of Germany and Trina Solar of China.With the successful takeover of Q-Cells, Hanwha has emerged as the world's No. 3 solar maker, a company spokesman said.On August 29 Hanwha Solar Germany, a subsidiary of Hanwha Chemical, concluded an agreement with Q-Cells in Germany to acquire the German company's headquarters, as well as factories in Germany and Malaysia and locally incorporated firms in the U.S., Australia and Japan. Among the facilities Hanwha will take over are the R&D center and a factory with a production capacity of 200MW cells and 120MW modules in Germany, an 800MW cell production factory in Malaysia, and the three incorporated firms in the U.S., Australia and Japan.
With the acquisition, Hanwha's annual solar cell production capacity will rise by 1GW from the existing 1.3GW to 2.3GW, becoming the world's third biggest solar cell maker, the spokesman said. Hanwha has also been reborn as a global solar energy-specialized firm offering total solutions in the solar energy generation field by grafting the vertically integrated business model from polysilicon to cell/module and power generation system onto the Q-Cells' EPC expertise. "Hanwha will actively attack the global market as it is now equipped with a vertically integrated business model in all solar energy fields ranging from polysilicon, ingot, solar cell, module and solar power generation," said the spokesman.
Polysilicon plant in Yeosu
Meanwhile, in the company’s April 2011 direction’s meeting, the directors of Hanwha Chemical decided to build a polysilicon factory with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons as part of its efforts to advance into the polysilicon business. With the construction of the plant to commence in the latter half of 2013, Hanwha expects to increase its annual sales to more than 500 billion won from 2014 onward. "Through this project, Hanwha will be able to secure most of polysilicon it needs internally after 2014. Accordingly, it holds significant meaning in that Hanwha has secured stability and cost competitiveness to cope with possible business fluctuations,” he said.
Hanwha Group acquired Solarfun Power Holdings, a solar cell company listed on the Nasdaq, for 430 billion won in August 2010, and changed the company name to Hanwha Solarone, advancing into the solar energy business in earnest. According to a survey result conducted by Lux Research, a world famous market research and consulting institution, Hanwha Solarone ranked seventh in the world in 2011 in terms of module production. Hanwha Solarone is the sole Korean module producer among the world's top 10 module producers, most of which are Chinese companies. It is also producing 800MW ingots and wafers. Hanwha Solarone is further moving to build a plant with a production capacity of 2GW solar cells and modules in the Nantong economic technology development district in China under the second-phased project. With the takeover of Hanwha Solarone, Hanwha Group has completed its goal of expanding its overall business size. Now, the group is pushing forward to strengthen its technology competitiveness by taking over equities in solar energy technology development venture companies, including "1366 Technologies" and "Crystal Solar."
Since October 2010, when Hanwha Chemical took over the equities of 1366 Technologies, it has been developing "Direct Wafer" technology that directly produces wafers from polysilicon in the melting status without passing through the ingot process. Meanwhile, Crystal Solar, the division whose equities Hanwha took in September 2011 has been developing new technology, which can produce wafers directly from silane gas without passing through the polysilicon and ingot process in the module manufacturing process. "If this technology that Hanwha aims at commercializing within two to three years is completely developed, Hanwha can attain an innovative cost saving effect in the wafer manufacturing process, an intermediary stage for module manufacture," the spokesman said.
Hanwha Solar America
In addition, the group established Hanwha Solar America, a research center in charge of R&D in the solar power field, in Silicon Valley in the U.S., completing the global solar R&D network linking Korea, China, and the U.S. Dr. Chris Eberspacher, the head of Hanwha Solar America and concurrently global CTO of Hanwha Group in the solar sector, is a world-renowned scholar in the solar field who has devoted all of his energies to developing solar cell processing technology for 25 years, as well as serving as CTO of Applied Materials and Nanosolar. "Thanks to its strenuous technology development efforts, including the setup of Hanwha Solar America and equity investment in 1366 Technologies and Crystal Solar, Hanwha Solarone received certification in the Long-term Sequential Test of Solar Module carried out by TUV of Germany in May 2012, becoming the sole company to pass the test among global solar firms," he said.
“This indicates that the Hanwha-developed module was recognized as top-tier technology in the world in terms of durability to external environment,” he explained. "The Silicon Valley-based research center will focus its energies on developing origin technology to lead the future solar technology, including next-generation solar cells," he added. Hanwha Group plans to maximize synergy effects by allotting respective roles to its solar research centers in the U.S., Korea and China. To be fully responsible for the solar power generation project, the group also established Hanwha Solar Energy in April 2011.
Hanwha Solar Energy completed the construction of a 2.24MW solar power plant, the biggest of its kind in Korea, on the roof of Hanwha TechM in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province in November 2011. "In addition, the company signed a contract to build a 17.6MW solar power plant in Lisbon, Portugal in May 2012. About 8,800 households can use electricity produced from the Hanwha-built solar power plant which will be completed in March 2013,” the spokesman said. As part of the group's efforts to explore the solar power generation market, in September 2011 Hanwha International, a U.S.-based corporation of Hanwha Group, purchased a stake in OneRoof Energy that offers a lease program necessary for setup of household roof-type solar power generation facilities.
"Under the expectation that the household roof-type solar power generation market will see an annual average growth of over 30 percent in the future in the U.S., solar lease program-offering companies are standing out at a rapid pace in the American market. "Accordingly, Hanwha International's purchase of a stake in OneRoof Energy means that the group has successfully prepared a bridgehead to jump into the U.S. household solar market," he noted. In the meantime, the 6MW solar power plant in Robigo, in the northern part of Italy, which was built by Hanwha's Europe-based corporation, started its commercial production on Oct. 1, 2011. On top of this, Hanwha SolarOne successfully advanced into the Japanese market by supplying 5.6MW solar modules to the solar power plant to be built by SoftBank Group in Tokushima. "Hanwha Group is also staging the "Happy Sunshine" campaign that offers solar power generation facilities to social welfare facilities across the country free of charge, leading the "Sharing Management" drive through its solar energy project," the spokesman added.
