Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selects 17 Sunlight Income Villages in North Jeolla Province

Eodu and Waemok Villages in Wanju to Begin Soon
16 Villages Face Site Selection and Power Grid Challenges

North Jeolla Province is set to significantly expand the creation of "Sunlight Income Villages," in which residents share the profits generated from solar power generation. With 17 villages in the province being selected as project sites through a Ministry of the Interior and Safety public contest, momentum is expected for the core pledge of the ninth administration—establishing 500 Sunlight Income Villages by 2030.

The GoChang-gun Sunlight Income Village Promotion Team, established in April this year. Provided by GoChang-gun Office

According to North Jeolla Province on August 3, 17 villages across 8 cities and counties within the province were finally selected in the first round of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Sunlight Income Village contest. A total of 24 villages in 10 cities and counties applied for the contest, and evaluation factors included the formation of cooperatives, securing project sites, securing financing, and the feasibility of connecting to the power grid to determine the final project locations.

The Sunlight Income Village initiative is a resident-participatory renewable energy project in which local communities install solar power facilities on unused land and utilize the profits gained from selling electricity for resident welfare or joint village projects. Its distinguishing feature is that residents are not just electricity consumers but also the main agents of energy production and profit generation.

Among the selected villages, Eodu Village and Waemok Village in Wanju will begin the project immediately. The remaining 16 villages will proceed with the project once conditions such as securing project sites and supplementing connections to the power grid are met, obtaining permits and approvals through the required procedures. Villages selected conditionally must complete these supplementary requirements within six months.

North Jeolla Province will also address the most significant obstacle identified during project expansion: the problem of insufficient power grid capacity.

First, for areas with limited grid capacity, the province plans to work with relevant agencies to expedite the installation of energy storage systems (ESS) in distribution networks, and will expand administrative support during project implementation to help villages carry out their projects stably.

Moving forward, North Jeolla Province intends to work collaboratively with local governments and related organizations to provide support at each stage—from community formation, site identification, and reviewing grid connection feasibility, to planning project execution—so as to further expand the Sunlight Income Village initiative. In the second round of the contest, 74 villages from 12 cities and counties in the province have applied, and the final selection results are expected to be announced at the end of September.

Yang Sunhwa, Director of the Advanced Future Industry Bureau at North Jeolla Province, stated, “The Sunlight Income Village project is a resident-participatory energy initiative that turns the region’s sunlight into residents’ income,” adding, “We will provide support so that selected villages can generate a stable profit, and we will steadily pursue our goal of establishing 500 villages by 2030.”

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