South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with a US solar energy project led by Spain’s Matrix Renewables to power its electric vehicle (EV) factory under construction in Georgia, as reported by the Korean Economic Daily on April 22. Under the PPA, Hyundai will receive 147 MW of renewable electricity from the Stillhouse Solar project in Bell County, Texas, which is expected to come into operation by October 2025. With a total power generation capacity of 210 MW, the project is expected to provide 378 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar energy to the automaker annually, avoiding carbon emissions of around 140,000 tons a year. The deal marks the biggest PPA signed by a Korean company for renewable energy utilization in the US.

The transaction forms part of the automaker’s efforts to promote renewable energy usage for its US factory. In 2022, Hyundai announced a USD5.5bn investment plan to build a complex for producing EVs and batteries in Georgia. Upon completion, the project would initially produce 300,000 vehicles per year, with the potential to expand to 500,000 units a year. The company considers the US as its key EV market, considering the Biden administration’s ambition to have 40% to 50% zero-emission vehicles in total car sales nationwide by 2030.

Sources:

https://www.kedglobal.com/electric-vehicles/newsView/ked202404220016

https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/hyundai-motor-signs-174-mw-renewable-energy-deal-for-ev-plant-in-us/109517197

https://apnews.com/article/hyundai-georgia-electric-vehicle-ev-845e2729fd5220797e7984f424bc1d5c