The Vivid interviewed Young Soo Joung, chief executive of ACE Inventor, on 21 October 2024, covering his route from university research to entrepreneurship and the thinking behind the technology.

Joung argued in the piece that the bottleneck in solar lies not in efficiency but in where a panel can be put. Conversion efficiency has improved steadily; the number of buildings able to carry a heavy, rigid sheet has not.

That premise carried directly into the company's product design — replacing glass with composites to shed weight, and shaping modules to wrap curved surfaces.

The company was at prototype stage at the time, reaching supply readiness through equipment installation in 2025 and KS certification in 2026.

ACE Inventor Inc., founded in November 2022, develops ultra-lightweight building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules. Its core technologies are a water-based hydrogel electrolyte membrane, electrophoretic large-area flexible electrode coating, and ultra-lightweight curved module design using FRP and ETFE composites. The company operates a 50 MW annual production line in Paltan-myeon, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, and holds KS C 8577 BIPV module certification together with ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001. Its patent portfolio includes seven registered Korean patents and one registered US patent, with 23 applications filed in Korea and abroad. Contact info@aceivt.com · www.aceivt.com

Related coverage and sources

· The Vivid — CEO interview, 21 Oct 2024