Posco set to join compatriot LG in building massive solar plant in USA

Posco,one of world’s largest steel producers has been trying to enter the solar market like its other Korean brethren.Note South Korea has been really pushing the Green Industry in the country giving all sorts of incentives to Wind Energy,Electric Vehicles,Solar Energy etc.Korean conglomerates have responded by making huge investments into all sorts of Green Sectors.LG and Samsung have already established crystalline solar cells lines alongwith Hyundai.Hanwha has made a big bang acquisition of the 4th largest Chinese module producer Solarfun while OCI Polysilicon is on its way to become the 2nd largest producer of polysilicon in the world.

Posco made its intention known about entering the solar market when it made a play for the Norwegian poly producer Elkem.This was a surprising decision considering that Posco’s core strenght of steel making has little to do with production of polysilicon.

POSCO is the world’s 3rd largest Steel Producer based out of South Korea.It has managed to come out of the GFC relatively unscathed and looking to diversify from its core steel operations.POSCO has said that it is in the early stages of a takeover of Elkem which is a Silicon Making Subsidiary of Norwegian Conglomerate Orkla.Note Elkem is one of the biggest producers of Raw Silicon which is  further refined into Polysilicon which makes the majority of the Electronics that we see today

While the decision on Elkem is still yet to be decided,Posco’s energy unit is planning to set up a massive 300 MW Solar Plant in the USA alongwith a US Developer Sustainable Energy Capital Partners (SECP),.Note LG had earlier also said that it was planning to set up a huge solar plant in the USA.This solar foray again is surprising since Posco has little expertise in solar installation or development.However it follows the South Korean Conglomerate strategy of entering into different Green Sectors.Earlier Korean Shipbuilders had entered enmasse into the offshore wind sector.

POSCO unit to build solar power plant in U.S.

The energy unit of South Korea‘s POSCO said on Tuesday that it plans to build the world’s biggest solar power plant with capacity of 300 megawatts in the United States by 2014.The unlisted affiliate POSCO Power will form a joint venture with Sustainable Energy Capital Partners (SECP), a U.S., California-based developer of renewable energy projects, to construct the plant in Boulder City, Nevada, with a goal to supply solar power to 60,000 households in Nevada, POSCO Power said in a statement.