Solar energy and energy storage systems would fundamentally change people‘s lives, said Hanwha Group heir-apparent Kim Dong-kwan on Wednesday.

“The energy revolution along with the integration of the energy storage system, or ESS, and the solar power system would integrate together, and this synergy would provide us with totally different ways of living,” said Kim, chief commercial officer of the group’s solar energy unit of Hanwha Q Cells Co. 


“Solar energy is set to possess 26 percent of the renewable energy which is expected to make up 54 percent of the entire power market by 2040,” Kim said during his speech at the Global Green Growth Week 2016 held in Jeju from Sept. 5-9.

Kim said the weakness of solar energy, meaning the limited availability during the daylight, can be supplemented by ESS, which refers to a system that captures energy produced at one time for use at a later time, which has recently witnessed rapid growth

“ESS would not only help solar energy during the night but it would also stabilize its power output during power transmissions,” Kim said, adding that this integration would also bring a paradigm shift in the energy industry. For instance, people no longer have to worry about “peak tariffs,” and energy prosumers, who consume energy but also sell the surplus, and electric cars would become more common, Kim said.

According to the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in April, the total installment of the ESS in 2013 was 28 MWh. This grew 8.5 times to reach 239MWh in 2015. In 2016 alone, it is expected to see a new ESS installment of 207MWh.

The global market for ESS is forecast to grow 50 percent every year until 2020, according to a report by SNE Research. 

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)