Steel Association Launches Solar Power Committee... "Expanding Domestic Steel Supply"

Participation from 16 Companies Including POSCO and Hyundai Steel
Initiatives to Establish Quality Standards and Improve Bidding System

The Korea Iron & Steel Association announced that it held the inaugural general meeting of the Solar Power Committee on the 16th at the association's main conference room in Songpa-gu, Seoul, with the attendance of 16 steel material manufacturers, fabricators, and processors related to solar power, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel.

The Korea Iron & Steel Association held the inaugural meeting of the Photovoltaic Committee on the 16th at the association’s main conference room in Songpa-gu, Seoul, with the participation of 16 companies related to steel materials, manufacturers, and processors for photovoltaics, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel. Korea Iron & Steel Association

The committee appointed POSCO as the chair company and selected Hyundai Steel, Dongkuk CM, and POSCO Steelion as vice chair companies. The CEOs or executives of 12 manufacturing and processing companies, including AJU Steel, are participating as directors. On this day, the committee also approved the business plan and budget for 2026.

This launch of the committee is an initiative to proactively respond to the growing demand for steel for support structures in the domestic solar power market.

In May, the government established the First Basic Plan for Renewable Energy, which is the nation's first basic plan for the renewable energy sector, and presented a goal to expand solar power deployment to 87 GW by 2030.

At a recent public forum for the establishment of the 12th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, forecasts were announced that solar power deployment would continue to expand, reaching 122 GW by 2035 and 155 GW by 2040.

The committee has set as its business goal the strengthening of the ecosystem for the supply chain of domestic steel for solar power generation. The main business initiatives include establishing the foundation for expanding steel demand in the solar power market, preparing quality management standards for solar power installation and improving the bidding system, building a cooperation network among industry, academia, research institutes, and government, and promoting the application of domestically produced steel by discovering and publicizing outstanding cases.

There have been ongoing concerns that the domestic solar steel market may lose ground for domestic steel products due to the inflow of low-priced Chinese imports. In response, the committee plans to lay the groundwork for localization by establishing quality standards for solar power support structures and related initiatives.

Hong Samsu, Head of the Cold Rolled & Coated Marketing Division at POSCO, who was appointed as the committee's first chair, stated, "The growth of the solar power generation market is a great opportunity for the Korean steel industry. The 16 member companies, led by the committee, will work together to strengthen the position of domestic steel in the market for solar power steel products."

At the inaugural meeting, Professor Moon Jiho of Kyungnam University was invited to give a special lecture on the current status and directions for improvement of quality standards for solar facilities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.