"Up to 4.5GW Achievable Through 'One Solar Panel Per Household' Initiative"

Green Transition Institute Releases Issue Brief
"Structural Constraints Must Be Addressed Together"

A veranda-type solar mini power plant installed in a residential complex in Yongsan District.

An analysis has found that if the distribution of residential solar power installations is expanded to apartments and single-family homes, up to 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity could be secured. However, while the government has begun allocating budgets to promote household solar power, there are concerns that structural constraints must also be addressed.

The climate policy think tank Green Transition Institute released an issue brief on April 8 titled "Living Infrastructure in the Era of Energy Crisis: Four Key Policy Tasks to Achieve Solar Power for Every Household," which contains these findings.

With energy security emerging as the top policy priority in Korea due to the Middle East crisis, the government recently announced its intention to achieve its 2030 target of 100GW of renewable energy supply ahead of schedule. As of 2024, Korea's renewable energy facilities total about 34GW, meaning an additional 66GW will need to be added to reach the goal.

The institute analyzed the potential for expanding household solar power using three main scenarios, based on the 2024 Population and Housing Census, which reported approximately 19.87 million housing units nationwide. The analysis reflected the owner-occupancy rate (57.4%) and applied standards of 300W or 600W veranda-type solar panels for apartments and 3kW rooftop systems for single-family homes.

The results showed that with only veranda-type solar installations, between 2.46 million and 4.93 million homes could be equipped. When combining apartment verandas with single-family home rooftop solar, a total of between 2.98 million and 5.45 million homes could be fitted. The new facility capacity could reach a maximum of 4.5GW. In this case, the annual carbon reduction could be as much as 2.65 million tons.

Currently, the scale of residential solar installations stands at about 4.7GW.

Until now, renewable energy policies have focused primarily on large-scale power generation projects and industrial complexes. Household solar power was only included in the central government budget for the first time in March of this year. On March 31, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment allocated an additional 524.5 billion won in its supplementary budget and specified the expansion of apartment veranda solar installations.

The institute pointed out, "The existence of a budget alone does not automatically lead to increased adoption of household solar power," adding, "If structural constraints such as cost burdens, procedural barriers, blind spots for tenants, and the lack of integration with energy storage systems (ESS) are not resolved, there is a high possibility that the budget execution rate will remain low."

The issue brief can be found on the Green Transition Institute's website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.