Farmers to Earn Power Revenue While Local Firms Meet RE100 Goals Public Sector to Lead Development, With Preliminary Zones Set by Year-End
Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City is moving to build a public-led agrivoltaic solar model that would generate income for farming households while meeting local companies' demand for renewable power under RE100 commitments.
The city said on the 8th that it is pursuing regulatory changes to develop public-led agrivoltaics as a strategic industry. Agrivoltaics involves installing solar panels at a set height above farmland while rice and field crops continue to be grown underneath. Jeonnam-Gwangju, one of the country's largest farming regions, has extensive land suitable for agrivoltaics and abundant sunshine, making it the biggest expected beneficiary once the system takes effect.
The appeal of agrivoltaics is that farmers can keep farming while earning steady power generation revenue. Local companies, in turn, can broaden their base for meeting RE100 targets by using renewable energy produced in the region. The city aims to use the model to revitalize the rural economy and strengthen the competitiveness of local industry at the same time.
The city is also reviewing the progress of renewable energy districts across its cities, counties and wards, along with cooperation plans with related agencies. Renewable energy districts are rural specialized zones designated under the Act on Rural Spatial Restructuring and Regeneration Support for areas where solar and other renewable energy facilities need to be clustered.
Designating such districts, however, requires a series of administrative procedures, leaving a considerable gap before projects can begin. The city plans to press the National Assembly and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to streamline the designation process, establish cross-department cooperation systems, identify best practices and expand training. It will also select priority project sites after surveying demand among its cities, counties and wards and reviewing locations, then sign agreements with the relevant local governments to designate preliminary zones by the end of the year to speed up the work.
"We will create a virtuous cycle in which farmers earn power generation revenue while they farm, and local electricity feeds the growth of local companies," said Bae Yong-seok, head of the city's energy industry bureau. "With a Jeonnam-Gwangju-style agrivoltaic model in which the public sector leads development and farmers and residents share the results, we will set a new standard for Korea's renewable energy industry."
Original reporting by Park Ji-hoon for Seoul Economic Daily.
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreign sources are based on Korean-language reports and may not reflect exact original wording.
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