‘Haenam-gun Sollasido Industrial Belt’ Project Adopted as a National Policy Task

Green Light for Solar City Enterprise Activation Including Carbon Neutral Cluster Development

[Haenam＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] On the 30th, Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do announced that the eco-friendly renewable energy industrial belt project within the Solar Sido Enterprise City has been selected as a national agenda of the new government.

The 20th Presidential Transition Committee selected seven major pledges and 15 policy tasks for each of the 17 provinces and cities through a public announcement of the regional balanced development vision.

The pledge to establish an eco-friendly renewable energy industrial belt involves creating a carbon-neutral cluster, an eco-friendly renewable energy industrial complex, and a power generation complex within the Solar Sido Enterprise City in Sani-myeon, Haenam-gun, and based on this, developing a smart city.

It is expected that 550 billion KRW of national funds will be invested in the carbon-neutral cluster, and 1.75 trillion KRW will be invested in the dedicated industrial complex and power generation complex developed through private investment.

The adoption of this national agenda is a green light for the activation of Solar Sido Enterprise City, where the Jeonnam-type Smart Blue City development, part of Jeollanam-do’s Blue Economy, is being actively promoted.

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

It plans to attract a residential population of 36,600 people and 14,640 households, equipped with advanced infrastructure based on beautiful natural environments embracing lakes, seas, and gardens, and clean renewable energy.

In 2020, the largest domestic renewable energy industrial complex centered on a solar power plant was completed, covering an area of approximately 1.59 million square meters (about 480,000 pyeong) with a capacity of 98 MW, and last year, the 18-hole Solar Sido Country Club covering 777,846 square meters (about 230,000 pyeong) was opened.

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

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

In particular, the county has attracted a 42.5 billion KRW carbon-neutral Edu Center to Solar Sido Enterprise City and succeeded in attracting investment worth 570 billion KRW for the European Village theme park, giving great momentum to the activation of the enterprise city.

Once the carbon-neutral Edu Center and the European Village theme park, inspired by the Netherlands, a leading eco-friendly energy country in Europe, are fully launched, it is expected that Solar Sido Enterprise City will establish its status as a genuine eco-friendly energy hub in conjunction with the eco-friendly energy industrial belt development.

Moreover, the regional balanced development policy tasks include expanding the high-speed transportation network between Gwangju and Wando and establishing an export platform based on eco-friendly K-food, raising expectations in Haenam-gun.

The Gwangju-Wando expressway project, with a total length of 88.61 km and four lanes, requires about 2.5859 trillion KRW and is being promoted in two phases: Phase 1 (51.11 km) from Byeokjin-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju to Seongjeon, Gangjin, and Phase 2 (37.5 km) from Jakcheon, Gangjin to Bukpyeong, Haenam.

Haenam-gun is additionally requesting the construction of a 14.4 km expressway section from Namchang, Haenam to Ttangkkeut as an extension of the second expressway plan, and the activation of the kimchi industry, including the establishment of a specialized kimchi production complex, which the county is focusing on, is expected to accelerate.

The county is the largest cabbage production area with 4,995 hectares of autumn and winter cabbage cultivation and is a representative supplier of kimchi raw materials, processing and shipping about 37,000 tons of salted cabbage annually. It is promoting the establishment of a kimchi raw material supply complex and a specialized kimchi production complex.

County Governor Myeong Hyun-gwan said, "Not only have we confirmed a clear will to revitalize Solar Sido Enterprise City in this government pledge, but we have also gained momentum in promoting urgent local projects such as activating the kimchi industry and expanding the high-speed transportation network. The county will continue to discover regional development tasks that align with government policies and proactively respond to ensure that related projects proceed without delay."

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