Haenam-gun Advances Solar City Corporate Town Development... 'Gained Momentum'

Implementing an Attractive Jeonnam-type Smart City with Gardens, Energy, and Smart Urban Features

[Haenam＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] On the 20th, it was announced that Solarsido Enterprise City in Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, is emerging as the optimal location for attractive investment attraction in Jeollanam-do.

Solarsido Enterprise City completed the construction of the largest domestic renewable energy industrial complex centered on a solar power plant in 2020, covering an area of approximately 1.59 million㎡ (about 480,000 pyeong) with a capacity of 98MW. Last year, the 18-hole Solarsido Country Club (SolarsidoCC) was opened on an area of 777,846㎡ (about 230,000 pyeong).

Additionally, last year, it was finally selected in the regional hub smart city creation project competition hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Over three years, up to 24 billion KRW will be invested to build smart city infrastructure and service bases, including electric vehicle sharing services, autonomous shuttle buses, Solarsido metaverse implementation, and solar-powered compressed waste treatment facilities.

The 5.34 million㎡ (160,000 pyeong) multi-cultural space, Sani Garden, is a representative space of the garden city with the theme "The mountain itself becomes a garden," creating themed gardens such as a children's garden, an art museum, and a reed garden. The first phase Garden Museum is scheduled to open in 2023.

To improve residential conditions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, a 4-hectare fine dust blocking forest will be created by next year to block fine dust from China and pollutants from nearby industrial complexes.

In particular, Haenam-gun has attracted a 42.5 billion KRW carbon-neutral Edu Center to Solarsido Enterprise City and successfully secured investment for a 570 billion KRW European Village theme park, giving a significant boost to the activation of the enterprise city.

The Carbon-Neutral Edu Center will serve as a national education center for achieving carbon neutrality and future energy transition, operating various educational facilities and providing spaces to experience energy reduction methods in daily life and various environmental issues. With a total project cost of 42.5 billion KRW, including 29.8 billion KRW in national funds, it will be built by 2025 on a 57,500㎡ site in Sanggong-ri, Sani-myeon, within Solarsido Enterprise City, including exhibition and education halls, experience facilities, promotional halls, and a carbon-neutral promotion center.

The European Village theme park will be developed on a 495,000㎡ (150,000 pyeong) area around the enterprise city. Inspired by the Netherlands, a maritime and agricultural powerhouse, it aims to create an eco-friendly European village and a renewable energy village called "Windmolen" (Dutch for windmill), reflecting the scenery of Yeongamho and Geumho lakes and small lakes.

The complex will include 1,008 residential units such as hotel-type townhouses, Dutch classical townhouses, and luxury country houses in golf course and canal villages, as well as production-themed parks like village enterprises and youth artisan education centers, shopping malls, cultural and sports facilities, and community centers, forming a European-style integrated resort facility.

The Yeongam-Haenam tourism leisure-type enterprise city development project, including the Guseong district covering about 20.9 million㎡ (6.32 million pyeong) in Guseong-ri, Sanggong-ri, and Deoksong-ri, Sani-myeon, Haenam-gun, has struggled to make progress for over a decade since being designated as a pilot project in 2005. However, it is now seeking new opportunities through the Jeonnam-type Smart Blue City development, part of Jeollanam-do's Blue Economy initiative.

Solarsido Enterprise City has the urban vision of a garden city, solar energy city, and smart city, aiming to create a tourism and leisure-type enterprise city with self-sufficient functions such as jobs, tourism, housing, education, and medical care.

With beautiful natural surroundings embracing lakes, the sea, and gardens, and advanced infrastructure based on clean renewable energy, it plans to attract a residential population of 36,600 people and 14,640 households.

The county plans to establish an eco-friendly renewable energy industrial belt by creating dedicated industrial sites for renewable energy based on excellent eco-friendly renewable energy land conditions, and is also considering expanding related projects such as green data centers.

Along with this, it is actively seeking to revitalize tourism in Solarsido Enterprise City as a core axis of southwestern tourism linked with the Osiano tourism complex, which is being actively developed with resort hotels and the connection to National Road 77.

Accessibility to Solarsido Enterprise City is also improving, with the construction of a 10.8 km, four-lane road connecting Yeongam Seoho IC and Solarsido Enterprise City scheduled for completion in October this year.

In addition, design work is underway for the expansion and paving of the local road between Masan and Sani, which will open a direct road connecting the enterprise city to National Road 2 and the expressway from Haenam, accelerating the activation of the enterprise city.

County Governor Myeong Hyun-gwan stated, "We will develop Solarsido Enterprise City as a new city-type garden city model combining eco-friendly ecology and smart city elements. We will actively respond to climate change using eco-friendly renewable energy and create a sustainable enterprise city through smart infrastructure construction."

Haenam=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun kh0424@asiae.co.kr