[Infinite Power] What Kind of Company Is the US 'Jelly' Acquired by Hanwha Solutions?

[Asia Economy Reporter So-yeon Park] Hanwha Solutions' energy solutions division, Hanwha Q CELLS, is planning to acquire the U.S. energy software company "Growing Energy Labs" (abbreviated as Geli).

Hanwha Q CELLS recently signed a contract to acquire 100% of the shares of Geli (Growing Energy Labs).

The company plans to complete the acquisition within this year after undergoing review by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment.

Geli, founded in 2010 in San Francisco, USA, is a company that develops and sells its own energy management system (EMS) that controls commercial solar power generation facilities and energy storage systems (ESS) through data analysis technology.

Geli is led by CEO Dan LeFollyn, who has experience at McKinsey, and founder Ryan Watena, an expert in information and communication technology (IT) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Hanwha Q CELLS plans to enter the profitable distributed energy solutions market through the acquisition of Geli.

The company explained, "Until now, we earned profits by selling photovoltaic (PV) modules, but with the acquisition of Geli, we can expand the business of leasing solar power packages combining PV and ESS to customers and establishing power trading agreements."

The strategy is to collect users' power usage data through solar modules and analyze usage patterns using artificial intelligence technology developed by Geli.

Accordingly, users will be able to choose efficient billing systems and sell surplus solar-generated power to other users.

Hanwha Q CELLS has been considering the acquisition of Geli, judging that software technology must be integrated into the energy industry to respond to changes in the global energy market.

Although the contract was initially planned for the first quarter of this year and nearly fell through due to the impact of COVID-19, the acquisition was ultimately confirmed to enter the distributed energy market.

Kim Hee-cheol, President of Hanwha Q CELLS, emphasized, "We will develop competitive energy solutions through the acquisition of Geli" and "We will grow as a leading company in the rapidly growing global distributed energy market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.