The government is expanding the ‘Sunlight Income Village’ nationwide, which aims to achieve energy independence and increase residents’ income through community-led solar power generation. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 16th that it would report the ‘Nationwide Expansion Plan for Sunlight Income Villages’ prepared with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Climate and Environment at the Cabinet meeting and actively promote comprehensive support at the pan-government level.
‘Sunlight Income Village’ is a business model where the community installs and operates solar power plants on idle land, farmland, and reservoirs to achieve energy independence and share the profits with residents. It aims to achieve energy transition, regional income creation, and community revitalization simultaneously. A representative example is the ‘Sunlight Cooperative Power Generation Cooperative’ in Gwangyang-ri, Sejongdaewang-myeon, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do, where residents installed solar power plants on village warehouses and parking lots, using the profits to provide free lunches and operate village buses, achieving community recovery and carbon reduction.
To spread these excellent cases nationwide, the government plans to supplement the limitations of village solar support projects that have been promoted by each ministry and establish a systematic support system at the pan-government level. To this end, a pan-government promotion organization called the ‘(tentative name) Sunlight Income Village Promotion Team’ will be established under the Minister of the Interior and Safety. The promotion team will involve related ministries, local governments, public institutions such as the Korea Rural Community Corporation, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and Korea Energy Agency to plan and coordinate projects, designate and evaluate Sunlight Income Villages, and provide comprehensive support.
The government plans to provide integrated support for key elements of project implementation, such as power system connection, site acquisition, and financial support, centered on the promotion team. To solve the power system issue, which has been a major obstacle to solar projects, the government will promote the revision of related laws to allow priority connection to the system for Sunlight Income Villages. Additionally, to secure sites, the government will actively discover idle land such as village halls and parking lots, as well as reserved farmland by the Rural Community Corporation, reservoirs, riverbeds, and dam surfaces by the Water Resources Corporation, and support the use permits, leases, and fee reductions for national and public properties.