[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] SDN is showing strong performance. The news that the first phase of the Saemangeum floating solar power project is expected to begin construction in September appears to have influenced the stock price. It was one of the key projects under the Moon Jae-in administration's renewable energy policy but had been stalled for over three years due to controversies over preferential treatment and issues with selecting contractors. Originally, the goal was to start trial operations in April this year, but the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is now breaking ground. With the activation of floating solar power, demand for SDN’s bifacial glass-to-glass (GtG) solar modules, which have recently begun full-scale production, is expected to increase.
As of 9:49 AM on the 21st, SDN is trading at 2,595 KRW, up 2.98% from the previous day.
According to the energy industry on the 21st, Saemangeum Solar Power recently selected the Hanwha consortium as the contractor for the ‘Saemangeum Floating Solar Phase 1 345kV Transmission and Substation Construction Project.’ Saemangeum Solar Power is a special purpose company (SPC) jointly established by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and Hyundai Global to promote the project.
This project involves constructing transmission and substation facilities to send electricity generated from the Saemangeum floating solar power plant to the mainland and other areas. With a generation capacity of 2,100 megawatts (MW), it is the world’s largest floating solar power plant by capacity. Once phase 1 construction begins in September this year, phases 2 and 3 are expected to proceed sequentially. The plan is to gradually expand the Saemangeum renewable energy project by installing an additional 0.9 GW of floating solar power (1 gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts) and 2.7 GW of offshore wind power in the southwestern region and Gunsan by 2026. Furthermore, by 2030, the project aims to complete 1.2 GW of offshore wind power in the southwestern region and 0.3 GW of solar power facilities led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
SDN, a solar module manufacturer, recently began full-scale production of bifacial glass-to-glass (GtG) solar modules with a power output of 550W per panel and a domestic top-level efficiency of 21.28%. On the 8th, a shipment ceremony for the ‘Sunday 10’ (model SDM550-HBA-A1) was held at the advanced solar factory in Gwangju, attended by CEO Ki-hyuk Choi and site managers.
Last September, SDN started building a state-of-the-art module manufacturing line at its Gwangju factory using funds from the partial sale of shares in a Bulgarian solar power plant. The production line installation was completed in March, establishing a mass production capacity of 300 MW per year.
High-efficiency GtG modules generate electricity from the top surface of the solar cells while simultaneously absorbing reflected and scattered light on the rear side of the cells, increasing power generation by more than 10% depending on the location. Because both sides are glass, they have a wide range of applications including building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), floating solar power, and agrivoltaics. This is the first time a mid-sized domestic solar company has started full-scale production of GtG modules. Along with achieving the highest domestic efficiency, the product warranty period has been extended to 30 years.
An SDN official stated, "We plan to ship modules at a scale of 10 MW per month," adding, "All production for this year has already been sold out through existing contracts."
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