LG COMPLETES CONSTRUCTION OF SOUTH KOREA'S BIGGEST SOLAR PLANT

The LG Group (KSE:66570), South Korea's third-largest family-run business conglomerate, said Sunday it had completed the construction of the nation's biggest solar panel plant, as part of the group's strategy to make inroads into the alternative energy market.

The solar plant in Taean county, about 110 kilometers southwest of Seoul, is capable of producing 14 megawatts of electricity a year, equivalent to the demand by some 8,000 homes, LG said.

LG spent 110 billion won ($105US million) to build the facility.

The solar plant was part of LG's move to provide alternative energy amid rising oil prices, said Ahn Sung-deok, the chief executive officer of LG Solar Energy, the LG unit that built the facility.

"If LG Electronics produces solar cells in the near future, we would use our own products to build another solar panel plant," Ahn said in a statement.

LG Electronics (KSE:06657), South Korea's second-largest consumer electronics maker, is a flagship of the LG Group.

Meanwhile, the Hanwha Chemical Corp. (KSE:009830), the chemical unit of Hanwha Group, said on the same day it plans to build a solar-cell plant.

The mass production of solar cells will be started in the second half of next year with a sales forecast of 70 billion won ($66US.6 million) a year, Hanwha Chemical said in a statement.

However, Hanwha Chemical didn't specify its spending or location for the plant.

Company officials weren't immediately available for comment on Sunday.

Without revealing a budget for the facility, Hanwha Chemical said it would spend a total of 800 billion won by 2015 to expand the capacity to 1 gigawatt of power.

(Yonhap)