Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s biggest carmaker, said that the country’s single largest ceiling-mounted solar power system went into operation at its local plant. The power system built in cooperation with Korea Midland Power Co. is made up of 40,000 solar individual panels that are all placed on top of the roof of the car production plant in Asan, 95 kilometers south of Seoul.
The system is set up to generate 11.5 million kilowatts of electricity per hour on an annual basis, it said.
The panels cover 68 percent of the ceiling space or 213,000 square meters and can produce electricity capable of providing power to 3,200 households for an entire year.
The clean power produced is equivalent to Hyundai cutting back on carbon dioxide emissions by 5,600 tons per year.
In addition, the flagship company of Hyundai Motor Group, the country’s second-largest family-owned conglomerate, said the solar panels will help reduce temperatures inside the plant during summer.
This can raise work efficiency and help reduce use of air conditioning.
Hyundai said it plans to sell the electricity generated to Korea Electric Power Corp. The electricity will then be used in the Asan area.
“Hyundai has continuously striven to take steps to cut back on energy consumption and contributed to the development of clean reusable energy,” a Hyundai executive at the Asan plant said.