Hankyung JOB&JOY Interview: Widening the Space Where Solar Can Be Installed
Hankyung Magazine's JOB&JOY profiled ACE Inventor on 14 October 2026. The piece, part of a series on companies incubated at the Smart Construction Support Center of the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, interviewed chief executive Jung Young-soo about the company's ultra-lightweight, high-output solar modules and its work on hydrogel transparent cells.
The article traces the product line back to a single substitution: a lightweight composite in place of glass. Lowering a module's weight reduces the load a building carries and, with it, the cost and difficulty of transport and installation. Output runs from 100-watt small formats to 700-watt large ones, with factory and warehouse roofs, car parks, agrivoltaics and building façades named as the main applications. Older buildings with little spare roof capacity are the segment the company is aiming at most directly.
Hydrogel-based transparent, flexible cells were presented as the longer-term project. The technology replaces the liquid electrolyte of a dye-sensitised cell with a water-based hydrogel membrane, reducing the risk of leakage and improving the bond between electrode and electrolyte. Nanoparticle electrodes are coated uniformly at low temperature by electrophoretic deposition, with large-area transparent and flexible cells as the goal — aimed at windows, curtain walls, blinds, greenhouses and vehicles, where silicon cells are difficult to apply.
The interview was specific about sales and overseas plans. The company concentrates on B2B project sales to construction firms, solar EPC contractors, specialist installers, designers and building-materials companies, working through samples and performance data, joint development to customer specifications, exhibitions and technical briefings, and public demonstration projects. Because customers tend to compare weight and structure in person, factory visits and product demonstrations run alongside. In North America the company has studied demand for lightweight, coloured and flexible modules and built up partner and buyer contacts; in the Middle East it is negotiating bulk supply of 700-watt modules, covering suitability for high temperatures and payment terms backed by an export credit agency; in China it is pursuing component supply and co-development with cell, material and module makers.
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
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