Hankook Tire installs 5 MW solar power system at Geumsan factory

Hankook Tire & Technology announced Thursday that it has installed an approximately 5-megawatt self-consumption solar power system at its factory in Geumsan-gun, South Chungcheong Province.

The company mounted solar panels rated at 2,692 kW and 2,377 kW on the rooftops of a raw materials warehouse and a finished-goods warehouse, both built in 2025 within the Geumsan complex, bringing total generation capacity to 5 MW. The system is expected to produce about 6.66 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy annually, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 3,061 tCO₂ per year through on-site consumption.

The project was selected for the Korea Environment Corporation's carbon-neutrality equipment support program for companies subject to the emissions trading scheme. Hankook Tire said it will continue expanding its shift to renewable energy as it works toward a net-zero target by 2050.

Beyond the Geumsan factory, the company also operates solar installations at major overseas production sites. It runs an approximately 1 MW self-consumption system at its Chongqing factory in China and an approximately 0.66 MW rooftop system over a parking area at its Jiaxing factory in China.

In 2023, Hankook Tire became the first company in the domestic tire industry to receive approval from the Science Based Targets initiative. Under a goal to cut direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 46.2 percent from 2019 levels by 2030, the company has been rolling out its renewable energy transition strategy in stages.

The company is also pursuing broader renewable energy use across its global production network through multiple channels — including a long-term PPA signed for its Rácalmás factory in Hungary, ISCC Plus certification obtained at its Jiaxing factory in China following those at the Geumsan, Rácalmás and Daejeon factories, and purchases of renewable energy certificates.

Hankook Tire was the first Korean company to be included in CDP's Supplier Engagement Leaderboard in 2018, and has received the top rating in CDP's climate change response category for two consecutive years since 2024.

Meanwhile, the company has been stepping up its eco-friendly management efforts on other fronts. Since 2023, it has led a private-sector consortium to establish a tire-to-tire circular economy model for end-of-life tires in South Korea, and it launched the iON GT — a premium touring tire for electric vehicles made with more than 70 percent sustainable materials — in Europe.