How South Korea plans to use the Iran crisis to spur a renewables revolution

Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month. “Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.” Continue reading…

Mitä tiedetään nyt

Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month. “Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.” Continue reading…

Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry

In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month.

“Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.”

The shift has been dramatic. Before the solar project launched in 2022, the village of about 130 people had no restaurant, no easy way to move around, and little communal infrastructure. Now solar revenue pays for meals, a village “happiness bus” for elderly people, a table-tennis facility and cultural activities.

The village deliberately chose to spend solar income on welfare rather than individual dividends, a decision Jeon says residents made themselves rather than being persuaded.

“If you divide money as individual income, people feel disconnected. People who didn’t know each other for years now get to know each other within days” through the restaurant, he says.

Guyang-ri serves as the national prototype for South Korea’s rapidly expanding “solar income village” programme, which aims to reach 2,500 villages by 2030. The government is aiming to create 700 this year – up sharply from roughly 150.

The acceleration is part of President Lee Jae Myung’s effort to use the Iran crisis as a catalyst for a faster clean energy transition. South Korea imports more than 90% of its primary energy, including roughly 70% of crude oil through the strait of Hormuz.

Lee has repeatedly framed fossil fuel dependency as a dangerous vulnerability, telling his cabinet that the “nation’s fate” depends on energy transition.

Many of the renewable targets predate the crisis, including a goal to generate 20% of electricity from renewables by 2030 and phase out coal by 2040, but officials say the pace and political urgency have shifted sharply, and funding increased.

A supplementary budget allocates about 500bn won to energy transition, funding grid infrastructure upgrades and increasing overall annual support for renewable energy projects to a record 1.1tn won ($670m).

Additionally, 400bn won in low-interest loans will be provided to the villages progr