Samsung announces renewable energy push

Samsung Electronics plans to run all its facilities in the United States, Europe and China on renewable energy by 2020 in a push to increase dependence on greener energy in its global operations, the company said Thursday.

According to Samsung the three countries are already well-equipped with the infrastructure to develop and use renewable energy. In the long term, the electronics giant seeks to further increase the use of renewable energy around the world.

Samsung hopes to drive the use of greener energy throughout the company in a bid to become more sustainable. The move is also aligned with the Korean government’s goal to push up the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources from 7 percent of the country’s total energy consumption to 20 percent by 2030.

In its initial steps to transition into greener energy globally, Samsung will install roughly 42,000 square meters (10.3 acres) of solar panels at its local headquarters in Suwon this year. It will then gradually add 21,000 square meters of solar arrays and geothermal power plants at its Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong facilities, both in Gyeonggi, by 2020.

The new power plants will be installed on roofs and in parking lots and other empty space within the existing facilities. The new arrays will add to solar panels that were installed on the rooftop of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Suwon in 2013.

The company estimates that its use of renewable energy globally will amount to 3.1 gigawatts in 2020. This amount of electricity is enough to power 115,000 four-person households for a year, the tech giant said.

To extend the initiative to partners across its supply chain, Samsung also plans to help 100 partner companies set up their own renewable energy targets from next year.

“We welcome Samsung Electronics’ declaration to expand the rollout of renewable energy across its global sites,” said Jochem Verberne, Global Partnerships Director at the World Wildlife Fund. “This is an important step and we look forward to working with Samsung on further measures to reduce the company’s climate impact across its value chains.”

Samsung also announced that it has joined the World Wildlife Fund’s Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles and the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Business Renewables Center. Both initiatives support the development and use of renewable energy.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]