Big Boon for Korean Companies... Will Money Flow to Solar or Secondary Batteries After the US-China Summit? | Eugene Investment & Securities Director Han Byung-hwa

Summary

Han Byung-hwa, Director at Eugene Investment & Securities, discusses the impact of the US-China summit on Korean clean energy companies, focusing on solar and battery sectors. He argues that the summit does not materially change the decoupling trend, and highlights the Korean agricultural solar law as a game changer that will drive domestic solar demand to over 10 GW annually. He recommends Korean solar stocks, especially Hanwha Solutions and HD Hyundai Energy Solutions, while downplaying threats from Ford-CATL and European protectionism.

• US-China summit unlikely to lower trade barriers on Chinese solar/battery products due to security laws.
• Korean domestic solar market set to triple from 3 GW to 10+ GW annually due to new agricultural solar law.
• Farmland solar law allows 30-year leases and unlocks 400 GW potential capacity, benefiting domestic module makers.
• Government policies favor domestic solar products through procurement credits and tax incentives.
• Hanwha Solutions is undervalued due to rights issue overhang but has huge domestic demand opportunity.
• HD Hyundai Energy Solutions has already rallied on domestic solar policy tailwinds.
• Ford-CATL venture is not a credible threat to Korean ESS exports.
• European green protectionism actually favors Korean companies with existing local production.