Plan to Spend 3 Trillion Won Installing Solar Panels on Rooftops of 7,800 Companies... Only 26 Participated in Two Years

Daegu City Council Member Lee Dongwook Reveals: "Calls for Groundbreaking Measures"

Lee Dongwook, a member of the Daegu Metropolitan Council (People Power Party, Buk-gu District 5), will point out the sluggish progress of the ‘Industrial Complex Rooftop Solar Project’ and demand measures from the city of Daegu to increase participation of industrial complex companies through an administrative inquiry at the 2nd plenary session of the 312th temporary session of the Daegu Metropolitan Council on the 11th.

According to pre-distributed materials, Lee Dongwook stated, “Daegu City signed a business agreement for the Industrial Complex Rooftop Solar Project with Hanwha Asset Management in December 2022 and widely promoted the attraction of 3 trillion won in investment, but nearly two years later, the actual results remain minimal.”

Dongwook Lee Daegu City Councilor

According to Councilor Lee, among the total 9,839 companies in the industrial complexes, 7,871 companies (80%) need to install solar panels to achieve the investment goal of 3 trillion won. However, as of the end of August, only 346 companies (3.5% of the total) had submitted a letter of intent to participate, and among them, only 26 companies have completed solar panel installation, resulting in a project completion rate of just 0.3% compared to the target.

Councilor Lee criticized, “The results are absurdly insufficient compared to the targets presented at the time of investment attraction,” and added, “If 80% of tenant companies must install solar panels to achieve the 3 trillion won investment goal, the target was overly optimistic from the beginning.”

Lee Dongwook further explained, “The Industrial Complex Rooftop Solar Project is a policy that removes slate roofs and replaces them with solar panels to produce renewable energy, which can contribute not only to economic development but also to environmental protection and the improvement of citizens’ health.” He added, “Nevertheless, I will point out Daegu City’s passive attitude, as they did nothing until Hanwha Asset Management gave up on the project.”

He continued, “For the successful implementation of the project, above all, the willingness of industrial complex companies is crucial,” and stated, “I will demand a realistic approach by properly identifying issues such as facility succession due to changes in landlords, profitability in long-term contracts, and the conditions desired by companies.”

Finally, Councilor Lee said, “For such a large-scale project to proceed smoothly, it is necessary to foster an organizational culture in which employees can speak candidly about issues that arise during the project, so that improvements can be made swiftly.” He added, “When the project does not proceed as planned, instead of punitive personnel measures, employees should be given opportunities to come up with solutions to ensure the success of the project.”