Don Quixote of Yeosu, which has traveled the world for 10 years to spread floating solar power
People / Lee Haeng-woo, CEO of BK Energy.
Transformation from a local council member who protects the region to a global business entrepreneur
Following the patent for rotating floating floating solar power, we have now achieved cultural and tourism-type floating solar power.
Lee Haeng-woo, CEO of BK Energy
'Reminiscent of Don Quixote' Like Don Quixote, who carries a helmet, armor, and a long sword and sets out to find villains around the world, a tenacious entrepreneur from Yeosu who has been taking on the challenge for over 10 years by traveling around the world to spread solar power generation facilities instead of swords. There is. The main character is Lee Haeng-woo, CEO of BK Energy Co., Ltd.
Don Quixote refers to a fanciful idealist who ignores reality, but he is by no means Hamlet.
Graduated from Yeosu Fisheries University (majoring in Electronics and Communications) and Master's degree from Yeosu University Graduate School (Oceanology Department), Chairman of the Gukdong Line Apartment Autonomous Association, running for city council member in the Gukdong constituency in the 3rd national simultaneous local election on June 13, first held after Samryeo integration in 2002 46.1 His entire history is that he was elected with a % of the vote, ran for the provincial council election as an independent in 2006, and lost.
Since then, he has transformed into a venture businessman, distributed solar power generation equipment, transformed himself into a global businessman, and is even enhancing national prestige.
In 2012, as solar power generation became popular nationwide, mountains and fields were being dug up for indiscriminate development. Diagnosing the reality of the continued side effects of land-based solar power, which lead to soil runoff, ecosystem disturbance, and reduced agricultural production, threatening food security, encroaching farmland, and collapsing rural infrastructure industries, and researching the development of 'floating solar power generation' facilities through reverse thinking as an alternative. become engrossed.
Couldn’t solar panels be installed in the ocean or reservoirs? How can we solve difficult real-world problems such as typhoons, waves, wind, safe operation of ships, salinity, fish resources, opposition from residents, etc. Despite a series of successes and failures, the company eventually filed a patent application for a rotating floating floating solar power generation device in 2014.
In 2015, he founded BK Energy, signed an investment agreement MOU with Jeollanam-do and Yeosu City, received a purchase conditional new product development project from the Small and Medium Business Administration in 2016, government R&D confirmed, and was certified as a venture business by the Small and Medium Business Corporation in 2017.
Subsequently, it participated in the Malaysian Environmental Technology and Product Expo in October 2019, and signed an exclusive contract with Spain's EDPR for joint development of 350MW of solar power in 2020.
In May 2021, as Korea's first project, the rotary floating solar power demonstration project, which applied floating solar power rotating technology as an R&D project, was successfully completed at Maehyang Reservoir in Boryeong City. This 503W power generation facility has a power generation efficiency that is 15% higher than that of the fixed type and about 25% higher than that on land. It obtained the ‘2021 New Technology (NET) Certification’ from the National Agency for Technology and Standards for ‘floating floating solar power generation efficiency improvement technology using the turntable method’.
Solar power plant floating panels can be designed into various models such as flowers, people, and trees, so they can be used as promotional materials to promote attractions, history, and culture, and can have a positive influence on the tourism industry by providing attractions at night.
The National Agency for Technology and Standards selects unique new technologies developed domestically and certifies them as ‘new technologies.’ The main selection criteria are ▲technology that is superior to or equivalent to that of developed countries and can be commercialized ▲technology that has a large technological and economic ripple effect that can contribute to improving national technological capabilities and strengthening external competitiveness. The fixed type had the disadvantage that power generation efficiency decreased during sunrise/sunset times due to the movement of the sun.
From 2022 to 2023, it participated in two floating solar power plants ordered by the Korea Rural Community Corporation and installed them in six reservoirs, including Yangju in Gyeonggi Province, Hwasun in Jeonnam Province, and Geochang in Gyeongnam Province, and is now heading to the global market.
Selected as a Net-Zero technology innovation development project (R&D) for small and medium-sized enterprises in August 2022, with government funding of 3 billion won. "With cultural tourism linkage and water quality improvement research and development on water solar power, we have even installed technology to install water solar power for cultural tourism. Solar power installation." BK Energy has the advantage of being able to become a tourist attraction while maintaining its original performance by decorating the panels in an infinite number of patterns such as flowers, animals, pictures, and letters. It holds numerous patents on water and land solar structures, buoyancy bodies, and rotation technologies.
BK Energy CEO Lee Haeng-woo said, “We will install solar panels under the name of BK Energy everywhere in the world using the company’s currently developed and future technologies.” He added, “Furthermore, we will install solar power facilities everywhere, including Africa, which lacks energy independence.” “The goal is to help,” he said.
Starting in 2022, the completion of 1MW floating solar power in Malaysia's Morocco, Nigeria, floating solar power in Jisan Reservoir, 1MW floating solar power in Bongam Reservoir, 20MW EPC MOA in Morocco's rooftop solar power, and completion of 1MW floating solar power in Gosi Reservoir are producing results.
In addition, submitted a bid proposal for 13.2MW floating solar power generation at TMU DAM in Morocco, signed an MOU with Ali Asswociates in Bangladesh, signed an MOU with Suncore Innovations in Australia, signed an MOU with SOLAR POWER in the UK, and submitted a proposal for a 334MW floating solar power plant in Sarawak, Swansea City in the UK. We are exploring various possibilities for business expansion around the world, such as submitting a proposal for a 540MW offshore solar power project and signing an MOU with SEALEXCO of the United States.
In addition, through technology development, we are developing a mooring system that can respond to water level changes, which is the biggest challenge in floating solar power, while minimizing horizontal movement, and a land solar power tracking system that incorporates artificial intelligence.
- Episode -
We visited a ranch with 500,000 sheep and an area of 50,000 acres in Queensland, Australia, and proposed installing solar power generation facilities. The owner said, ‘It is useless as it only reduces the area of the ranch and causes inconvenience.’ Representative Lee said, ‘If the height of the solar power facility is raised by 20 to 30 cm compared to the original design, a large resting area will be provided to the sheep under the installed area, and the sheep will grow better as their living environment improves. As this improves, they become healthy and their reproductive capacity increases, ensuring the growth of the ranch. He is a genius with ideas like the ‘Egg of Columbus.’
Source: Namhaean Newspaper (http://www.nhanews.com) Reporter Lee Sang-yul 2024.06.25 11:30
