LG Electronics: from PDP facility to solar cell production

LG Electronics plans to invest KRW 220 billion by 2010 to establish two production lines. The company expects that the first line will be able to begin mass production from the first quarter of 2010, with the second line beginning full operations in the first quarter of 2011. Both lines will manufacture crystalline silicon solar cells and modules with a capacity of 120MW each. “Leveraging LG Electronics’s R&D knowledge in various photovoltaic technologies for the last three years as well as our mass manufacturing expertise will allow us to quickly become a global player in the solar cell and module manufacturing business,” said Kwan Shik Cho, Head of the Solar Cell Business Team at LG Electronics. LG Electronics currently operates a solar cell business team under its chief technical officer (CTO). The company has also progressively accumulated R&D knowledge to further expand its business into the solar energy industry as a new growth engine. As a part of this strategy, LG Electronics acquired solar cell business by transfer from its sister company, LG Chem, in June 2008.