LG Electronics Inc. recently has decided to pull out of the global solar panel business, said Reuters. The decision was approved by LG's board of directors in South Korea on February 22 after a comprehensive review of the increase in material and logistics costs and the impact of severe supply restrictions on the solar business.
At present, LG is the second largest manufacturer of solar modules in South Korea. According to the data of Wood Mackenzie, LG ranked second in the U.S. residential solar energy market in 2020, accounting for 13.3% of the market share. The company also covers 10.3% of the commercial market, ranking third.
Faced with fierce competition from Chinese competitors, not only Korean manufacturers have withdrawn from the solar panel business, Japanese enterprise Panasonic will also exit from the production of solar cells and panels this year.
On February 17, LG Energy Solution announced their official full acquisition of NEC Energy Solutions, an energy storage system manufacturer of NEC Corporation located in the United States, and established LG Energy Solution Vertech to enter the energy storage system integration market. The company will be responsible for the planning, design and maintenance of energy storage system integration projects, and integrate necessary equipment including batteries and power conversion system (PCS), so as to provide services for LG Energy Solution's optimized energy storage business.
The energy company has participated in some large-scale battery energy storage projects, including California's 400 MW/1,600 MWh Moss Landing battery energy storage system, which was connected to the grid in 2021. It also announced last year to provide 200 MW / 800 MWh BESS equipment to RWE Renewables for two solar energy storage projects in the United States.
According to the latest data released by South Korean research agency SNE Research, LG Energy Solution follows Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), ranking second with an installed capacity of 60.2 GWh. LG Energy Solution plans to have 430 GWh power battery capacity by 2025, including 155 GWh in the United States, 145 GWh in Europe and 130 GWh in China, South Korea and joint ventures with Hyundai Motor Indonesia
LG Energy Solution expects its revenue to reach KRW 19.2 trillion won in 2022, with a year-on-year increase of 8%, exceeding the expectation of stable growth in the electric vehicle market.
