Environment ministry widens local say and solar income for transmission-line villages

The environment ministry said Wednesday it will require that up to two-thirds of the support money paid to local governments for new transmission lines be allocated to communities near the lines, part of a package of draft rules meant to spread solar income to those villages and widen public participation in choosing where the lines go.

Under the proposal, the payment of 2 billion won ($1.51 million) per kilometer of overhead line would be directed to areas around transmission and substation facilities within that two-thirds limit, and villages that run solar projects would have installation costs reflected first. The ministry said it plans to work with local governments and Korea Electric Power Corp. to find candidate "grid solar income villages" with residents willing to take part and suitable land and grid connections.

The draft amendments to the enforcement decree of the Special Act on Expansion of the National Core Power Grid, two related notices and the standards for operating the siting committee were drawn up as follow-up measures to a plan reported to the Cabinet on Sept. 15. They will be put out for public comment from Oct. 22 through Dec. 1, with the administrative notice running to Nov. 11.

The ministry said the proposals reflect complaints gathered at meetings with representatives of residents near transmission lines in April, May and August and during site visits to Daejeon, Geumsan and Anseong.

Residents would also get a larger and earlier role in siting. Briefings for residents at the city, county and district level would be held before the siting committee is formed, increasing the number of sessions from two to three. Residents would in principle be allowed to observe committee meetings, and the decisions and meeting materials would be made public afterward, with personal information excluded.

Officials from the ministry's regional environment offices would be given a basis to join the committee for national grid facilities. When the committee selects candidate sites it would in principle produce at least two for comparison, and residents could submit alternative routes or sites in writing for the committee to review and vote on as candidates.

The draft also calls for the committee to consider first, when reviewing candidate routes, the option of sharing towers with existing or other new lines. Where two or more transmission projects cross the same city or county, the committee could be formed and run jointly or in parallel.

"We will improve the system so that residents near transmission line construction can share the generation revenue from village solar and take part in siting from the early stages of a project," said Lee Jae-sik, the ministry's power grid policy director. "We will work with local governments and Korea Electric Power Corp. to develop the grid solar income village pilot project and to strengthen institutional support and on-site communication so that power grids can become facilities that coexist with their regions."