Republic of Korea, Photovoltaic technology status and prospects

Republic of Korea
Photovoltaic technology status and prospects
Jinsoo Song, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER)

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General Framework

Fig. 1 - 100kWp grid-connected PV systems installed at a parking place inside Gwangju metropolitan city hall, under the Local Energy Development Programme, in 2004.

In December 2003, the Government, Korea Ministry of Commerce Industry and Energy (MOCIE), announced “The 2nd Basic Plan for New & Renewable Energy Technology Development & Dissemination”. This new plan aims at developing the relevant New and Renewable Energy Technology and has a target to attain 3 % share of New and Renewable Energy by year 2006, 5 % by year 2012. In order to achieve this target, an aggressive approach must be taken to create the mark and to expand market size. With the limited amounts of funds, development of all New and Renewable Energy technologies could not be effective without selection or concentrated efforts. Hence, PV that has only been a promising technology for the future until now and which has a large potential in reducing environmental pollution has been selected as a high priority programme.
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National Programme

Korea's national PV plan was recently renewed. The goal was previously 30 000 roofs by the year 2010. Now the goal has been increased to 100 000 roofs and 70 000 buildings, for a total capacity of 1,3 GW by the year 2012. The new plan for this technological progress is divided into different steps focusing on developing the technology for mass distribution and commercialization of PV. In the short-term, the PV cell R&D is focused on crystalline silicon. The target is to increase PV module efficiency from the current 12 % to 15 %, until the year 2006, and to 18 % until the year 2010. The cost target of the module is 5,4 USD/W until the year 2004, 3,3 USD/W until the year 2006 and 1,9 USD/W until the year 2010. Finally, targeted developed technologies will be commercialized by the year 2012.

Fig. 2 - 3kWp PV systems installed in remote areas of Vietnam, through the International Collaborative Project in 2003. Since 1993 the MOCIE (Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy) has been implementing, via the KEMCO (Korea Energy Management Corporation), demonstration and field tests of various renewable energy technologies. In addition, the government has been encouraging and supporting local authorities to implement their own demonstration or field test projects under the framework of the “Local Energy Development Programme.” This programme aims in part to raise public awareness on renewable energy technologies and to develop indigenous renewable energy sources for each region. In both of these projects, PV technology remains the top priority.

The Renewable Energy Demonstration Programme: Among a total of 33 projects implemented under this programme, the number of projects related to PV amounted to 21 in the year 2003. Various grid-connected PV systems with a power capacity of 5-30 kW were installed in schools and universities. In addition, fifteen other individual buildings had PV arrays on their rooftops. All the rooftop PV systems have the same 3kW capacity. A total of 1,3 billion KRW was invested on PV power systems. The beneficiary paid only 30 % of initial investment.
The Renewable Energy Field Test Programme: Several PV rooftop systems have been tested at the “Solar Energy Field Test Site” at Chosun University in Gwangju metropolitan city. System performances and reliability are tested and evaluated.
The Local Energy Development Programme: Under the local energy development project, a wide variety of PV systems including off-grid domestic, non-domestic and grid-connected systems were constructed. In 2003, the government allocated more than 25,7 billion KRW for this programme, PV accounted for more than 47 %. Local authorities, in cooperation with the MOCIE, implemented a variety of PV system installation aimed at increasing public awareness on PV and to develop PV as indigenous renewable energy sources for their region. It is worthy to note that several local authorities started the planning of “Green Village” projects. The objective of this project is to construct a small-size solar village by using photovoltaic power systems and solar thermal systems as much as possible. In 2003, two local authorities, Gwangju and Daegu metropolitan cities, were beneficiaries of “Green Village” projects. In 2004, more local authorities were designated as the target of this project.

Fig. 3 - 50W solar home system installed in remote areas of Vietnam, through the International Collaborative Project in 2003. As a collaborative project, known as DURE-Gobi Project with Mongolia, KIER has installed a PV (5kWp) - Wind (3kW) hybrid system and Solar Home Systems at an isolated village in the Gobi Desert in October 2003. With the Solar Village Project through the International Joint Project between Korea and Vietnam, KIER has installed 3kW PV system and 50W solar home systems in a remote area of Vietnam in 2003. The new international collaborative project with China has begun in 2004. The 100kWp grid-connected PV systems will be installed in Tibet and the system performances will be monitored during a 3 year period. Collaborative Project in 2003.
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Research and development

The PV R&D projects are mainly supported by the MOCIE, and some basic research projects are supported by the MOST(Ministry of Science and Technology). The KEMCO is a leading organization in management of R&D projects as well as in demonstration and field test projects. At the end of 2003 the KEMCO has established the 'R&D Center for Photovoltaics,” in order to carry out R&D activities more efficiently and promote cooperation among the government organizations, research institutes, universities and industries. This center is carrying out planning on R&D, commercialization and widespread deployment scenarios of PV power systems.

The R&D projects implemented in 2003 included various categories. In the short term covering the period 2001-2004, the key project has been to develop solar cell mass production technology and BOS systems for 3-kW residential rooftop systems. In the mid- and longterm, two projects have been implemented. One was related to BIPV and the other one was aimed at developing polycrystalline thick-film silicon using solution growth.

In addition, research institutes and university laboratories have been carrying out some basic R&D projects on thin-film solar cells. The materials included CIGS, amorphous silicon (a-Si), polycrystalline silicon (p-Si), organic materials and TiO2 for dye-sensitized PV cells. The KIER is very active in R&D on CIGS chemical compound and polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells in order to develop lowcost and high-efficiency solar cells. Recently, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic solar cells attracted much interest from university research teams.
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Implementation

Fig. 4 - The cumulative installed PV power in 3 sub-markets from 1992 to 2003.

The PV market was still dominated by off-grid non-domestic sector that occupied about 71 % of the cumulative installed PV power. However, the market share of this sector has been decreasing year by year. Among the various off-grid non-domestic applications, telecommunications was still the largest sector of application, followed by marine applications such as lighthouses and street lighting. In the year 2003, marine applications were the largest sector of application, followed by highway emergency call box and street light lamps. Other important applications include PV systems for river flood warning systems, aviation warning lamps on high-voltage transmission towers, environment- monitoring equipment such as water-borne pollution, sewage, forest fire monitoring and traffic signaling. For off-grid domestic application, no system was installed in 2003. The share of this sector has decreased to about 7 % of the total cumulative installed PV power.

In 2003, several dozens of grid-connected distributed systems with a capacity in the range 3 kW to 200 kW were installed. Among them, 16 systems were for public office buildings and 5 systems were for rooftop systems on residential houses (Figure 5). The share of these grid-connected distributed systems increased to 22 % of the total cumulative installed power; compared to 14 % in the previous year. In 2003, the total installed power of this sector was 667 kW, representing 65 % of the total PV market. In 2002 a total capacity of 237 kW were installed, and the share was 36 %. This sector has been intensively promoted under the framework of the “Renewable Energy Demonstration Programme” or the “Local Energy Development Programme,” and is supported by the government and local authorities.

The total cumulative installed PV power for each sub-market on the 31 December of each year, from 1992 to 2003, is shown in Figure 4. The total installed power of PV systems in Korea was 6 438 kW at the end of 2003. The total PV power installed during the year 2003 was 1 028 kW, which is about 60 percent higher than that achieved in the previous year (653 kW). For the first time the annual installation exceeded 1 MW.
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Industry Status

Fig. 5 - 3kW grid-connected PV systems installed at private residential house under the Program of Local Energy Development Program in 2003.

The status of PV cells and module production in 2003 is summarized in Table 1. Until 1999, High Solar Company (independent from former LG Siltron Co. in May 1999) continued to manufacture PV cells, but this company stopped its operation in 2000. In 2001, there was no PV cell manufacturer in Korea. In 2002, two new companies entered into PV cell production. Neskor Solar Co. produced 0,24 MW and Photon Semiconductor & Energy Co. 0,3 MW in 2003. The latter significantly increased its production capacity from 0,5 MW to 6,0 MW in 2003. These two companies provided a part of their production to domestic module manufacturers and some to foreign companies. These two companies import wafers from foreign companies.

In 2003, five companies including one that started its operation at the end of 2002, produced about 2,29 MW of PV modules. This nearly tripled the previous year's production figure. This remarkable expansion of PV module production was due to the newly established company “ATS Solar Co.” This company produced about 1,4 MW PV modules with a production capacity of 3,0 MW. This production line is the largest one in Korea. The total production capacity was also tripled, compared with that of the year 2002. Most of single and multicrystalline silicon PV cells were imported from foreign countries. The average PV module prices decreased about 10 % in 2003 compared to the previous year. The prices were in the range of 5 700 to 8 000 KRW/W, depending on the manufacturing company and the order volume.

In 2003, Hex Power Systems was the only company to manufacture inverters for grid-connected systems. This company produced various products with a capacity 1 - 50 kW. The prices ranged between 2,83 MKRW/kVA for a size smaller than 1 kVA and 1,57 MKRW for larger than 100 kVA, depending on the inverter size.

Two companies were involved in producing inverters for stand-alone systems. In the case of inverters for stand-alone systems, the average price was about 2,2 MKRW/kVA for a size larger than 10 kVA. There is one PV battery manufacturer, Global High-tech Co. that produces lead-acid batteries of a tubular plate stationary type. The unit price of the battery with a capacity 2 000Ah/100hr is about 1 000 kKRW. Concerning the supporting structures, PV system installers used their own type of support structures made from anodised aluminium or galvanized steel. That is why the price of the supporting structures is so multifarious.
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Future Outlook

Fig. 6 - 3kW grid-connected PV systems installed at private residential house under the Program of Local Energy Development Program in 2003.

Korea's national PV plan was recently renewed. The previous goal was 30 000 roofs by the year 2010. Now the goal has been increased to 100 000 roofs and 70 000 buildings for a total capacity of 1,3 GW by the year 2012. The total capacity is broken down into different sectors. Three different sizes of systems will be developed such as 3 kWp for residential homes, 10 kWp for public buildings, and 20 kWp for industrial buildings. An explosive growth of the market is expected between 2006 and 2012; once the foundation is set into place by the year 2006. The Korean government recognizes that PV industry will grow and take up to 10 % of the world market by the year 2012 with the export amounting to 3 BUSD and employing 50 000 people. The strategies for promoting the distribution of PV systems are described below. The whole programme will be managed and monitored by the experts group organized solely for the PV technology distribution.

Establish the foundation for mass distribution through developing PV systems for distributed electricity system. During 2001-2006, focus on developing the standardized systems for residential homes and for commercial buildings that have large potential demands.
Set up the test sites and villages for demonstration. Establish “green villages” throughout Korea starting from Daegu and Kwangju. For new buildings, encourage the installation of 10 kW PV systems and, for factory buildings, 20 kW PV systems.
Complete the regulatory system for promoting PV.
Maximize the subsidization programme that has a strong short-term effect. Further promotion should be pursued by “green pricing” and other tax incentives.