Wonju’s Manjong 1-ri selected for Sunlight Income Village program; only one of 42 in the province able to proceed immediately

【The Financial News, Wonju = Reporter Kim Gi-seop】Manjong 1-ri in Hojeo-myeon, Wonju, selected for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Sunlight Income Village program, is the only one of the 42 selected villages in Gangwon Province able to proceed immediately with construction of a solar power plant without conditions requiring supplementation.
According to Wonju City on the 15th, 608 villages nationwide applied for this year’s second-round Sunlight Income Village competition, organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and 436 were selected. Villages that needed to supplement some requirements were included conditionally. Of the 42 selected villages in Gangwon Province, 41—the vast majority—were selected conditionally. In Wonju, Geumdae 1-ri in Panbu-myeon was among them.
The Sunlight Income Village program involves residents forming a cooperative or social cooperative, building and operating solar power plants on unused village land and other sites, and sharing the proceeds among the community. The target villages are chosen through a Ministry of the Interior and Safety competition, and must meet requirements for sites, funding and grid connections based on residents’ participation and consent. Manjong 1-ri was assessed as having met all these requirements.
The city will support the relevant procedures and consultations with the agencies concerned so that Manjong 1-ri can obtain a power generation business permit within six months of its selection and complete a pre-use inspection within 12 months of receiving the permit. It will also assist with consultations on new sites and administrative procedures to secure additional generation capacity. As Geumdae 1-ri’s selection is conditional on supplementing its project site and plans for connecting to the power grid, the city plans to consult with the relevant agencies and establish the groundwork for moving the project forward.
Developing Sunlight Income Villages is also a pledge project of the ninth popularly elected administration. Since last July, the city has held informational sessions by visiting villages directly to deepen residents’ understanding of the project and broaden the base for participation. It plans to continue providing administrative support from the contest-preparation stage through site identification and permitting.
“Now that Manjong 1-ri has cleared the hurdle of the competition, we will carefully ensure that everything from the power generation business permit to the pre-use inspection is completed within the prescribed deadlines,” said Lee Ho-seok, head of Wonju City’s Energy Division. “We will work together to remove obstacles in securing funding and connecting to the grid so that the revenue generated from solar power can help enhance residents’ welfare and strengthen the village community.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter