LG Uplus has established a 1,000 kW solar power facility at its Daejeon R&D Center.
On the morning of the 28th, LG Uplus held an inauguration ceremony at the Daejeon R&D Center, attended by CEO Hwang Hyun-sik and key executives, to commence operations of the solar power facility.
This solar power facility is installed over a total area of 4,862 square meters, including parking lots and athletic fields at the Daejeon R&D Center, utilizing 1,740 bifacial solar panels. It is capable of producing approximately 1,371,816 kWh of electricity annually, which allows for 11% of the R&D center’s annual electricity consumption to be replaced with renewable energy. This facility is the largest single facility solar power installation in the domestic telecommunications sector.
With this initiative, LG Uplus can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 630 tons annually, equivalent to planting 4,510 pine trees.
Prior to the Daejeon R&D Center, LG Uplus also established a 61.36 kW solar power facility at the Pyeongchon 2 Center Internet Data Center (IDC), which opened last September, and plans to include renewable energy facilities in future IDC constructions.
Additionally, LG Uplus is considering businesses that trade renewable energy through a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
Leading in eco-friendly management, LG Uplus is striving to convert the electricity used for its telecommunications facilities to renewable energy. The company has set a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and moving to 100% renewable energy for electricity use. To achieve this, LG Uplus joined K-RE100 in 2022 and is refining and expanding its corporate energy transition plan.
Alongside the transition to using renewable energy through solar power facilities, LG Uplus has implemented 19 items aimed at reducing energy consumption, resulting in an annual reduction of approximately 52,000 tons of greenhouse gases.
In the network sector, efforts have focused on operational efficiency through measures such as replacing wired network equipment, introducing compact outdoor air conditioning units at communication stations, implementing environmentally-friendly high-efficiency rectifiers for 5G equipment, and incorporating energy-saving functions in wireless equipment. The IDC utilizes outdoor air for cooling and automatically controls the fan speed of cooling towers, while general office buildings have replaced lighting and HVAC systems with high-efficiency products.
Thanks to these efforts, LG Uplus has obtained ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO 50001 (Energy Management) certifications from global certification bodies, establishing a company-wide environmental management system. Moreover, the company has been recognized for excellence in carbon management, being selected for 10 consecutive years as an excellent company in the telecommunications sector of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
Lee Hong-ryul, Head of ESG Promotion at LG Uplus, stated, “LG Uplus is doing its best to achieve its carbon neutrality goals for sustainable management. We will continue to enhance communication with stakeholders regarding environmental issues and execute more ideas to promote LG Uplus’s unique environmental management activities.”
By Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr