The Solar Power Tower, built in Daegu in year 2011 by Daesung Energy (the subsidiary of Daesung Group), is on the verge of demolition.
Even the Korean solar technology that was derived from this power plant appears to provide a poor return on investment. Hence, this initiative is unlikely to avoid criticism for "losing money".
Daesung Energy was given a leading role in "Year 2008 Renewable Energy Strategic Technology Development Task" as hosted by Ministry of Knowledge and Economy in year 2008. It had revealed its plans for building a base for overseas plant exports by securing key technology in the field of solar power.
Accordingly, on June, 2011, Daesung Energy had built a 60m tower shaped solar power plant situated on 23,000㎡ area in Seobyeon-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu. It is capable of producing up to 200kW per hour.
A total of 11.65 billion Won was invested for the project, including the government's support fund and private allotment. The Daegu city spent 120 million Won annually for renting the site area. The cumulative payment for 6 years of period is 720 million KRW.
However, this project resulted in poor return on investment. From December, 2008 up to September 2011, Daesung Energy consortium developed 3 types of technology such as volumetric air receiver and cost effective solar tractor Heliostat. However, the fire incident resulted in nullification of the Daesung Group's plan to amaze the world with the solar technology.
On October 16th, 2013, the solar power tower caught on fire during the Daegu World Energy Congress. The representative of the Daesung Energy admitted that "The flame was associated with excessive heat generated from malfunctioning of the Heliostat - the solar tracker."
The Daegu World Energy Congress succeeded in drawing larger audience as it was attended by 7,500 energy experts from 120 different countries which was largest-ever number of attendees seen on world congress meeting.
Kim Young-hoon the CEO of Daesung Group said "The NOKIA started off from hardware store but is now supporting the Finland's economy based on Mobile phone business. In the likely manner, Daesung Group will become the flagship company in Daegu based on the Solar energy."
The vision to promote and publicize the Daegu city with the solar energy has failed and ended up damaging the reputation of the Korean renewable energy industry.
The solar industry insider said "It has resulted in only causing harm to local residents by bringing a disgrace upon the country, let alone its plan to gain world publicity and promote exports"
South East and South Pacific Exports The experts says it's “Nonsense”
It has been almost 4 years since the project was completed. One of the company representative said "The overseas solar power project is underway with tens to hundreds of MW scale. However, it is premature to take part in the project with the track record of 200kW research and development.
and added "The company(Daesung Group) is seriously lacking in several areas such as funds and technical ability to independently perform the project." This statement implies that the company has been aware of the possibility of advancing into overseas markets is fragile.
As of the scale of current solar power plants, Spain solar power plant is 50MW, UAE Abu Dhabi plant is 100MW, and US Evanpa Solar plant is 392 MW that recently started its operation. In the same manner, the experts arrived at a consensus that Daesung energy will be difficult to export in future as it had not secured track record that is vital to exports.
However, CEO Kim Young-hoon commented in an interview that "South eastern region with high amount of sunlight, South Pacific, and Latin America are being reviewed as targets for exports."
Solar energy experts pointed that the regions as mentioned by CEO Kim, consist of poor countries and criticized his statement by saying that the idea of establishing solar power plant that requires at least thousands to billions in unit is itself nonsense.
Daegu city recently sent "Final Notice" to Daegu Energy. That is about the plan to demolish the power plant by February of next year if the Daesung energy fails to propose detailed utilization plan for solar power tower by end of this year.
Daesung energy is supplying solar photovoltaic and wind force hybrid type generator to least developed countries such as Mongolia. However, this has far to do with "business value" as it is one of the Gaedo national project that is underway by KOICA and Korea Energy Management Corporation.
The solar industry insider said "There were rumors that the CEO Kim projected the renewable energy project such as solar photovoltaic and wind force including solar thermal generation because he was aware of the opening of the Daegu World Energy Congress."
On one side, Kim, the Joint CEO of World Energy Congress will be attending 'World Energy Leader Summit in Manila Philippines" that will take place until June 20th. This summit is held twice every year and it is attended by Deputy and Prime Minister of Energy from each country and executives of the global companies.
