“Boosting village incomes with sunlight”... Gangwon Province selects 42 Sunlight Income Villages

【Financial News Chuncheon = Reporter Kim Gi-seop】Forty-two villages in Gangwon have been selected as Sunlight Income Villages, where residents run solar power plants themselves and share the profits, laying the groundwork to increase village incomes through renewable energy.
According to Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province on the 11th, 45 villages in the province applied for the second round of the Sunlight Income Village program, run by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and 42 were selected. In effect, at least nine out of every 10 applicant villages cleared the hurdle: one can begin the project immediately, while 41 were selected conditionally and must meet additional requirements.
The Sunlight Income Village program is a resident-led renewable energy initiative in which residents of villages at the administrative-ri level form cooperatives and take part directly in solar power generation projects. Profits from power generation will either go toward residents’ incomes or be used for community welfare and joint projects, and are expected to provide a new source of income for rural villages.


The remaining challenge is the power grid. Many conditional villages have sites for building power generation facilities and residents willing to participate, but they cannot easily start their projects right away because the local distribution grid lacks the capacity to connect and accommodate the electricity. This is because renewable energy projects in the province have continued to increase, pushing the existing distribution grid’s capacity to its limit.
The province has repeatedly asked central government ministries and related agencies to improve the system and put support measures in place to resolve the issue. It has called for measures to enable actual grid connections, including expanding the distribution network, converting and reinforcing the grid, and linking energy storage systems (ESS). It is also discussing support to ensure projects are not stalled for a long time due to grid capacity shortages.
There is one more opportunity to participate. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety is holding the third round of applications from the 17th of last month through the 30th of this month. This additional round is for villages that could not apply in the previous rounds or need to improve their project conditions. Interested villages may apply to their relevant city or county by the 23rd. The cities and counties will review each village’s application and project conditions and submit final applications to the ministry by the 30th.
Gangwon Province Industry Bureau chief Han Young-seon said, “The fact that 42 of the 45 villages that applied were selected shows just how determined residents are to improve their villages’ livelihoods with sunlight.” Han added, “We will continue to ask the government and related agencies for practical measures so the selected villages are not held back by grid connection issues, and work with cities and counties to help more villages take part in the third round, which closes on the 23rd.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter