SEOUL, South Korea's second-largest carmaker Kia Corp. said Wednesday it has signed a deal to purchase an annual 250 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy as part of its plans to speed up zero-carbon production at its Korean operations.

Under the power purchase agreement (PPA) with Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., the carmaker will procure 250 GWh of solar power from the builder for its plants in Gwangmyeong and Hwaseong, according to Kia.

Kia said the deal represents the largest PPA signed by a domestic automaker, constituting 31 percent of the total energy consumption in the country's automobile plants.

The PPA will help the company derive 60 percent of the total electricity for its facilities from renewable energy by 2030.

In addition to this agreement, Kia plans to bolster its carbon-neutral production policy by constructing 61.6 megawatt solar power generators at both local and overseas production facilities.

This move is expected to contribute to the direct generation and utilization of 86 GWh of renewable energy annually, Kia added.

Source: Yonhap News Agency