SK Innovation Co., South Korea’s biggest refiner, agreed to invest $50 million in closely held thin-film panels production company HelioVolt Corp. to obtain a key technology for its solar batteries business.
The investment will help the company to test the feasibility of commercial production of copper indium gallium selenide, or CIGS, photovoltaic technology owned by Austin, Texas-based HelioVolt, to lower the cost of producing solar batteries, the SK Group unit said today in an e-mailed statement. The investment will be made with affiliate company SK Technology Innovation Center.
SK is open to additional investments “for the commercial production of the technology,” depending on the feasibility study, the Seoul-based company said in the statement. It didn’t provide details on the stake it will have in HelioVolt in return for the investment.
SK Group, which accounts for almost 10 percent of South Korea’s gross domestic output, plans to invest 17.5 trillion won ($15.6 billion) by 2020 in alternative energy and new technology as it seeks fresh sources of income. SK Group’s units are involved in the production of polysilicon wafers and materials for solar batteries.
SK Innovation rose 0.6 percent to 169,500 won as of 12:14 p.m. in Seoul trading, headed for the highest close since Aug.9. Korea’s benchmark Kospi stock index fell 0.8 percent.
