Hanwha to Expand in North America After Solar Monkey Integration

Hanwha Group, a closely held South Korean industrial conglomerate, created a project development unit to finance and build power plants that will use panels produced by its Hanwha SolarOne (HSOL) unit.

The unit, Hanwha SolarEnergy America, incorporates Solar Monkey, the Irvine, California-based developer in which Hanwha purchased a stake in January 2011, according to a statement today.

“The full capabilities of Hanwha Solar, from manufacturing to project development to finance, will allow us to become a leading provider of solar energy services in North America,” SolarEnergy America Chief Executive Officer Matthew McCullough said in the statement.

Hanwha SolarEnergy America has a project pipeline totaling 1 gigawatt and has completed six projects in California, according to the statement.

The company announced in July that it planned to offer energy-storage technology that would increase the value of solar systems.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Doom in New York at jdoom1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net