Hanwha Solutions Established 25 Solar Power Corporations Last Year Alone

[Hanwha's Offensive Management in the US]
Including Energy Development Projects
First Establishment of Financial Services Subsidiary
Last Year's Sales 3.1 Trillion KRW, Up 33%
Hanwha Ocean Corporation 'USA Holdings'
Hanwha Aero Enters Commercial Aircraft Engine Leasing

Among Hanwha Group affiliates, Hanwha Solutions is the most active in North American business. Last year alone, it established 25 corporations related to solar power development and generation in the United States. This includes entities set up for energy development projects. Since January last year, Hanwha Solutions has officially launched a residential solar installment financing service business in the U.S. through its subsidiary EnFin. This is the first case in the U.S. where a solar manufacturer has established a financial services subsidiary. The company provides installment financing services to customers who want to install residential solar panels. As of the end of last year, it achieved a cumulative contract count of 10,000 and a contract scale of $500 million.

In January this year, Hanwha Solutions signed the largest-ever long-term solar module partnership in the U.S. with Microsoft (MS), amounting to 12GW. Over eight years until 2032, Hanwha Solutions will provide modules and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for solar power plants from which MS will purchase electricity. The 12GW capacity accounts for 60% of the newly installed solar power generation capacity (21GW) across the U.S.

Kim Dong-kwan, Vice Chairman of Hanwha Solutions, is explaining the 'Solar Hub,' the largest solar value chain project in the United States, at the solar module factory located in Dalton, Georgia, on April 6 last year (local time).
[Photo by Hanwha Solutions]

Thanks to aggressive business expansion, Hanwha Solutions recorded sales of KRW 3.1042 trillion in the U.S. last year, a 33% increase from the previous year. The proportion of U.S. sales among foreign revenue also rose from 33% to 58% during the same period.

Other affiliates are also actively entering the North American market. Hanwha Ocean established its U.S. corporation ‘USA Holdings’ at the end of last year and began actively seeking investment opportunities this year. In March, it also decided on a paid-in capital increase of KRW 181.8 billion. This serves as a base for entering the U.S. Navy ship maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market.

Last month, Hanwha Ocean formalized its entry into the shipping industry by establishing the shipping company ‘Hanwha Shipping LLC.’ Hanwha Ocean’s U.S. corporation ‘USA Holdings’ and the joint venture ‘Hanwha FutureProof’ between Hanwha Solutions and Hanwha Aerospace each invested 50%. After announcing its Q1 performance, Hanwha Ocean stated in a conference call, "This is not a large-scale shipping business but a platform business using Hanwha Ocean vessels equipped with new technologies."

Hanwha Ocean is also pursuing the acquisition of Australian company Austal, which owns shipyards in Alabama and other U.S. states. Austal is a defense contractor that designs and builds ships for the U.S. Navy. After its Q1 earnings announcement, Hanwha Ocean said in a conference call, "The U.S. Navy’s MRO volume will likely focus more on support ships than combat ships," adding, "The MRO business could materialize as early as the first half of this year."

[Image source=Hanwha Ocean]

During the same period, Hanwha Aerospace established three U.S. corporations in IT services, non-memory and other electronic integrated circuit manufacturing, and plans to establish a U.S. branch of its civil aircraft engine leasing company ‘Hanwha Aviation’ within the year. Last month, the company set up Hanwha Aviation in Singapore, where many global engine leasing companies are concentrated. The business rents out replacement engines and collects rental fees to allow aircraft to operate during engine inspections or repairs, which often require removing the engine from the aircraft.

In the aircraft engine sector, the company, which had only been involved in manufacturing and overhaul, is pioneering a new market of engine leasing after 45 years. A Hanwha Aerospace official explained on the 10th, "The establishment is part of diversifying the business portfolio through engine leasing." He added, "Since it is important to secure multiple engines, it is not easy for companies without considerable size to enter this market. Usually, engine leasing companies expand into aircraft leasing businesses as they grow larger, but there are no concrete plans regarding this yet."

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