Hapcheon-gun Selected as Candidate Site for Dumusan Pumped Storage Power Plant

Promotion of the 10th Basic Power Supply Plan in Myosan-myeon

Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam Province announced on the 1st that after holding meetings with the village heads of Sanje, Gaya, and Banpo in Myosan-myeon, as well as the village heads of Apgok 1, 2, and 3 districts in Bongsan-myeon, the candidate sites for the Dumusan pumped-storage power plant have been decided. The upper reservoir will be located in the Sanje-ri area of Myosan-myeon, and the lower reservoir in the Banpo-ri area of Myosan-myeon.

Hapcheon-gun has been urgently seeking to attract large-scale national projects due to issues such as low birthrate, aging population, population decline, and economic stagnation. To attract a small-scale pumped-storage power plant in the Dumusan area, they conducted resident briefings and site visits.

In Myosan-myeon, a pros and cons vote and a petition signing campaign were carried out to attract the Dumusan pumped-storage power plant, resulting in the majority of residents expressing hope for the project to promote regional development and revitalize the local economy.

County Governor Kim Yoon-cheol is holding a press conference announcing the selection results of the candidate site for the Dumu Mountain pumped-storage power plant.

However, the government deemed it necessary to construct a large-scale pumped-storage power plant (capacity increased from 400MW to 900MW) to compensate for the variability of renewable energy output, which inevitably led to changes in the facility capacity and the locations of the upper and lower reservoirs. The county held briefings and site visits for residents around the two candidate sites (Apgok-ri in Bongsan-myeon and Banpo-ri in Myosan-myeon) to explain the revised project details and the necessity of attracting the project.

Additionally, to obtain the consent of local residents, which is one of the essential requirements for attracting a large-scale national project, a petition signing campaign for the pumped-storage power plant attraction was conducted from May 22 to 25 targeting residents of Apgok-ri (districts 1, 2, and 3) in Bongsan-myeon, and Sanje-ri (Sanje and Gaya villages) and Banpo-ri (Banpo village) in Myosan-myeon.

County Governor Kim Yoon-cheol said, “I sincerely thank each and every resident of Myosan and Bongsan-myeon who worried and participated for regional development despite their busy farming season schedules. After gathering your opinions and careful consideration over several days, we have finally decided on Myosan-myeon as the candidate site for the pumped-storage power plant construction.” He added, “Although we could not proceed with the candidate site desired by the residents of Apgok in Bongsan-myeon, we promise to include Apgok village in the 11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand scheduled for the end of next year.”

He continued, “We will start preparing gradually from now on so that Bongsan-myeon can be reflected in the pumped-storage power plant project in the Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, which is established every two years. Through this, Hapcheon-gun will do its best to attract additional pumped-storage power plants to create sustainable growth engines together with local residents.”

A county official stated, “Since the community is created by the residents, it is essential that all residents work together and cooperate to select the pumped-storage power plant attraction site, which is the core of this project.”