[Companies Overcoming COVID-19] LS Group Accelerates Global Power Infrastructure and Smart Energy Business

LS Cable & System US Offshore Wind Farm Installation

[Photo by LS Group]

An LS ELECTRIC official is inspecting modules at the 28MW-class Chitose solar power plant in Japan.

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] LS Group plans to establish regional strategies this year focusing on areas with high growth potential such as China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), strengthening cooperation and support to create synergy among its subsidiaries operating locally.

Additionally, the group will actively engage in supplying key equipment and technologies and expanding overseas investments in the power infrastructure, smart energy, and digital transformation sectors, where global market demand is increasing.

First, LS Cable & System is pursuing growth through overseas expansion by actively investing in the United States, Poland, Vietnam, and Myanmar, leveraging its top-tier technology in ultra-high voltage, submarine, and superconducting cables. Last year, LS Cable & System completed its factory in Poland, fully launching production of components for electric vehicle batteries and general-purpose optical cables. Investments in cable materials, bus ducts, and MV cables in Vietnam have also been expanded. The company has also achieved a foothold for entry into the Middle East and Africa. In November last year, LS Cable & System signed a contract to establish a production corporation with M.A.N International Contracting, a cable specialist construction company in Egypt. Subsequently, in March this year, LS Cable & System secured a turnkey submarine cable project worth 100 billion KRW in Bahrain.

LS ELECTRIC is accelerating its next-generation microgrid business through power and automation technologies combined with ICT-applied converged smart solutions. A microgrid refers to a next-generation power grid capable of self-supplying electricity to small-scale areas. Earlier, in 2018, LS ELECTRIC signed a business transfer agreement to acquire all tangible and intangible assets, including production facilities and personnel, of the Parker Hannifin EGT (Energy Grid Tie) business unit, the largest industrial ESS sector in North America, to strengthen its global energy storage system (ESS) business competitiveness. Following this, LS ELECTRIC launched LS Energy Solutions, a subsidiary under its North American corporation.

LS ELECTRIC was selected as the project operator for a 93 MW-class ESS-linked solar power generation project being constructed in Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do, and signed an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract worth 184.8 billion KRW in June last year. This represents the largest single solar power project scale that LS ELECTRIC has undertaken domestically and internationally. During the same period, the company also secured a 50 MW-class solar power plant project in Morioka City, Japan, and signed an EPC contract worth approximately 113 billion KRW.