Korea Zinc to invest $6.6 billion in solar, wind, and hydrogen projects

Korea Zinc will spend $6.6 billion on Australia’s renewable energy industry.

This was stated by Yoon-beom Choi, the ‘third-generation owner’ of Korea Zinc, in an interview with Bloomberg on the same day. This is in order to meet the company’s aim of RE100 (covering 100 percent of its electricity with renewable energy), which it joined in September of last year. “We will spend $6.6 billion in Australia’s renewable energy business,” a Korea Zinc official stated.

The corporation agreed to spend $6.6 billion in Arc Energy, a wind power subsidiary founded in February of last year, and Epuron, an Australian renewable energy development company it bought last year. Arc Energy is currently working on a 923 MW wind power project in the neighboring area. Epuron intends to minimize carbon emissions by supplying environmentally friendly energy to Sun Metal (SMC), a local smelting company, and to build a hydrogen business that generates green hydrogen by electrolysis of water in the mid-to-long term. Australia expects to create 500,000 tons of green hydrogen per year by 2050, according to Vice Chairman Choi.

Vice Chairman Choi also indicated an interest in the sector of rechargeable batteries. Within this month, the business expects to execute a primary contract with LG Chem to form a precursor joint venture, which is a vital ingredient for secondary battery cathode materials. The joint company would have a capital of 200 billion won, with Korea Zinc and LG Chem split 60:40.