Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon Leads the Proposal of Four Energy Decentralization Bills

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Shin Jeong-hoon, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee (Jeonnam Naju·Hwasun, Democratic Party), on the 30th, took the lead in proposing the "Energy Decentralization Four Acts" (Amendments to the New and Renewable Energy Development, Use, and Distribution Promotion Act, the Electricity Business Act, the Energy Act, and the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth).

There have been continuous calls for changes to the existing centralized energy system due to the expansion of renewable energy and distributed energy.

In particular, while the role of local governments is extremely important to coordinate interests and support project implementation at the regional level, they have not been granted the necessary authority, causing difficulties in project execution. Moreover, the voices of local governments, which need to manage projects at the regional level, have not been reflected at all in the central government's energy policy decision-making processes, such as the Basic Energy Plan.

If the four bills proposed on this day are passed, the support window for renewable energy power generation projects at the regional level will be unified into the Regional Renewable Energy Transition Support Center, and the authority of local governments for practical project implementation is expected to be expanded.

Furthermore, local governments' opinions are expected to be actively reflected in the central government's energy policy decision-making process, greatly contributing to the preparation of energy policies and strategies that consider regional characteristics.

Representative Shin Jeong-hoon emphasized, "While the hardware of our country's energy system has already changed significantly with the rapid expansion of renewable energy distribution, the energy policy governance, which can be called the software, still remains in the centralized structure of the coal era," adding, "Considering the characteristics of renewable energy, where many participants are involved and policy coordination functions at the regional level are important, energy decentralization reform that grants greater roles and authority to local governments is an urgent task that can no longer be postponed."