Hanwha Chemical signs investment deal for polysilicon plant

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- Hanwha Chemical Corp., a chemical unit of South Korea's Hanwha Group, said Thursday that it signed an investment deal with a local government to build a polysilicon-producing plant in the country. Early this year, Hanwha Chemical said it will spend 1.04 trillion won (US$924 million) on building the plant in Yeosu, 455 kilometers southwest of Seoul, by July 2013. Polysilicon is used in solar panels and solar cells. The plant will have an annual output of 10,000 tons of polysilicon, Hanwha Chemical said earlier. Local conglomerates such as Samsung and LG have been rushing to venture into the solar energy-related sector as part of efforts to diversify their business portfolios and secure new revenue sources. In August last year, Hanwha Chemical took over Solarfun Power Holdings, a Chinese solar modules manufacture, and renamed the company "Hanwha SolarOne." Hanwha SolarOne is planning to set up a solar cell and solar cell module production line with a production capacity of 2 gigawatts in Nantong, a city in China's Jiangsu Province. The size of solar-related business globally was estimated at $30 billion last year and is expected to grow at an annual rate of over 20 percent down the road.