Hyundai Mobis Establishes 'Solar Power Facilities' at Major Production Sites

RE100 Implementation Measures... Accelerating Realization of Carbon Neutrality by 2045

Solar power generation facility installed by Hyundai Mobis in the parking lot of Ulsan Electrification Plant. Photo by Hyundai Mobis

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Hyundai Mobis is building solar power generation facilities that produce eco-friendly renewable energy by utilizing parking lot sites at major domestic production bases, and plans to expand this to global operations. Following the establishment of the first RE100 promotion roadmap among domestic auto parts companies, the company is also taking a step ahead in implementing the corresponding action plans.

On the 12th, Hyundai Mobis announced that it has installed solar power generation facilities at three major domestic production bases: Ulsan, Daegu, and Gimcheon plants. Including the Changwon plant, where construction will be completed next month, a total of 5,190 solar modules with a maximum output of 485W each have been installed across four locations. The installation area of the structures reaches approximately 11,894 square meters, which is about 1.5 times the size of a soccer field. The total facility capacity is about 2.5MWp, capable of producing 3,308MWh of renewable energy annually.

Based on the average monthly electricity consumption of a four-person household (307kWh), this can supply monthly electricity to about 10,000 households. It is also sufficient to operate approximately 1,200 electric vehicles annually.

The use of eco-friendly renewable energy through solar power generation is expected to have a carbon dioxide reduction effect. The solar power generation at the four plants is anticipated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,519 tons annually. This is equivalent to planting about 600 trees that absorb 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Hyundai Mobis joined the Science Based Targets initiative last year, the first in the domestic automotive industry, and declared its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. The company aims to realize net-zero carbon emissions across the entire value chain?including domestic and overseas business sites, supply chains, products, and local communities?by 2045. This reflects a proactive commitment to strengthening ESG management, which has become a necessity in the global market, as well as to carbon neutrality and environmental management practices.

To support this, Hyundai Mobis joined RE100 in April together with five Hyundai Motor Group companies including Hyundai Motor and Kia, becoming the first in the domestic automotive industry to do so. The roadmap targets 65% renewable energy transition by 2030 and 100% by 2040 for all global business sites, aiming to complete the transition to renewable energy 10 years ahead of the RE100 standard year of 2050.

Renewable energy procurement is broadly divided into direct production and external purchase methods. Installing solar power generation facilities is a key solution for direct production, especially in South Korea where the renewable energy production environment is relatively challenging. Hyundai Mobis plans to expand investment in self-generating solar power facilities by selecting global business sites capable of solar installation, starting with domestic sites.

The first target is the India plant. Utilizing a roof area of 13,028 square meters within the module plant, a 1.9MWp ground-mounted solar power generation system is currently being installed. Once the facility is completed by the end of this year and begins operation early next year, it is expected to supply more power than the plant’s demand (1.6MW), resulting not only in renewable energy transition effects but also in reduced internal plant temperature and cost savings.

Additionally, Hyundai Mobis plans to convert 100% of vehicles owned or leased at domestic business sites to electric or hydrogen vehicles by 2030 to achieve carbon neutrality at its workplaces. The company also intends to expand renewable energy use by discovering additional renewable energy projects, signing power purchase agreements (PPA), purchasing renewable energy certificates (REC), and adapting to energy market environments by country and region.

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