Changwon City to Build 'Citizen Benefit Sharing Solar Power Plant'... 5% Dividend for Members

Citizen Energy Cooperative Solar Power Project. / Provided by Changwon City.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jucheol In] Changwon City, Gyeongnam Province announced on the 22nd that it will install a solar power plant that shares the profits with citizens on the rooftop of the Woorinuri Youth Culture Center building.

In September, Changwon City signed a business agreement with the Citizen Energy Cooperative for the "Citizen Profit-Sharing Solar Power" project.

According to this agreement, Changwon City provided the rooftop of the Woorinuri Youth Culture Center building in Hapjeong-dong, Masanhoewon-gu as the site for the solar power plant. The installation cost of the solar power system is 560 million KRW.

The Citizen Energy Cooperative will start installing the solar power plant soon, aiming for completion by the end of January next year, using 200 million KRW invested by cooperative members and the remaining funds borrowed from a bank.

After the solar power plant is completed, the Citizen Energy Cooperative will sell the electricity produced over 20 years to repay the borrowed money and generate profits. Five percent of the profits will be returned to cooperative members as dividends.

If the first project proceeds smoothly, Changwon City plans to expand the citizen profit-sharing solar power project by providing sites at other affiliated institutions.

Jeong Hyeran, the second vice mayor, said, “We will strive to find installation sites so that public property owned by citizens can be used to share profits with citizens, revise regulations that hinder the spread of renewable energy, simplify procedures, and support the cooperative so that it can easily and enthusiastically expand the power plants.”