LG Innotek walks-the-walk with huge LED production plant

LG Innotek has installed over 10,000 LED luminaires throughout its LED manufacturing complex in Paju, Korea.

Korean-based LG Innotek, a vertically-integrated manufacturer of LEDs for displays and lighting, claims it has built the single-largest LED production complex in the world in Paju, Korea. The manufacturing facility performs all aspects of LED production, from epitaxial wafer growth to LED module production. In related news, LED lighting has also been installed throughout LG Twin Towers, LG Electronics’ headquarters in Seoul. The lighting in the two towers is designed to save 1717 MWh of electricity annually.

Paju manufacturing facility

In its first year of operation, the LED manufacturing complex has saved 173,000 kW of energy, approximately 20 percent of the energy that would be required by conventional lighting including fluorescent sources.The Paju complex, which includes the manufacturing facility, administration buildings and associated infrastructure, began operations in July 2010. The complex is 182,000 square meters in size, comparable to 26 football fields.

The company estimates that the energy saved in this first year is comparable to the effect of planting 63,000 pine trees in the area. This is based on the generation of 317 tons of CO₂ from 173,000 kW of electricity and the absorption of 5 kg CO₂/yr per pine tree.

The Paju LED installation uses various high-efficiency LED lighting modules that were developed by LG Innotek, including ModulA, a planar-panel lighting module, and ReflectA, an indirect reflection-type lighting module.

The LED production facility has a targeted production level of 1.8 billion LED units per month. The three-story production building features a combined floor space of 58,000 square meters. It features production lines for 6-inch epitaxial wafers, LED chips, and LED modules for LED backlighting units for LCD TVs as well as LEDs for lighting.

The company expects to create 2000 jobs in its first year of operation and 4000 jobs overall.

An LG Innotek official said, “LED lighting is the best lighting source currently available, as it is akin to solar lighting, but does not emit ultraviolet light, and can be used for a long time. It can also change color according to the lighting environment.” He added, “High prices, which were considered the greatest obstacle to the expansion of LED lighting use, are being addressed quickly due to the development of core technologies and the expansion of production capacities.”