LG Electronics accelerates its solar business, which it is actively fostering as a next-generation growth engine.


LG Electronics announced plans to invest 527.2 billion won by the first half of 2018 in its Gumi plant, which currently operates 8 high-efficiency solar production lines, to add 6 production lines and operate a total of 14 production lines.

With the expansion of production lines, current annual production capacity of approximately 1GW (gigawatt) will be increased to approximately 1.8GW in 2018. By 2020, annual production capacity is expected to expand to 3GW. 3GW equals the annual power consumption of one million households.

LG Electronics expects that this investment will result in the recruitment of 870 new employees in research and development, sales and administrative, and production fields.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics has been expanding its business since beginning solar research in 1995, launching its first solar module in 2010, and now establishing itself as a premium brand in global markets including the United States, Japan, Europe, and Australia. Additionally, in November of last year, the company launched "Neon2," an ultra-high-efficiency solar module with 19.5% efficiency, the world's highest level based on 60-cell N-type modules in the 6-size class (15.67cm), in the domestic market.

The energy business is a field that LG Electronics has selected and is intensively fostering as a next-generation growth engine to lead the future. In November 2014, LG Electronics established the "Energy Business Center" to more actively pursue energy-related businesses and is launching full-scale energy business by consolidating the "Solar," "ESS (Energy Storage System)," "Lighting," and "EMS (Energy Management Solution)" businesses.

Lee Sang-bong, President and Head of LG Electronics' B2B Division and Energy Business Center, said, "With this investment, we have laid a foundation for a new leap forward in the solar business, a future new growth engine," and added, "We will continue to present ultra-high-efficiency premium products, provide differentiated value, and lead the global solar market."