Lee Jaemyung's "Sunlight Pension": Easing Farmland Regulations and Expanding Power Grid Remain Key Challenges [New Administration Policy Issue]

The implementation of the "Sunlight Pension," a program that provides farmers or villages with pension-style payments from the profits of selling electricity generated through solar power, is expected to gain momentum. The Sunlight Pension was a campaign pledge of President Lee Jaemyung, and the National Policy Planning Committee, which is responsible for outlining the new administration's five-year blueprint, has also requested that each ministry actively promote the Sunlight Pension.

On June 23, a government official stated, "The Sunlight Pension is a presidential pledge, and the National Policy Planning Committee has once again emphasized its commitment to the initiative," adding, "Relevant ministries are also actively reviewing implementation plans for the Sunlight Pension."

The Sunlight Pension is a project that utilizes individual farmhouses, village community facilities, or public land to generate solar power, with the proceeds from electricity sales paid out to farmers and villages. Not only individual farm units but also entire village communities can participate jointly.

To implement the Sunlight Pension at the village level, relevant regulations must first be revised. Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the "Agricultural Solar Power Introduction Strategy." The core of this strategy is to allow solar installations on farmland in non-Agricultural Promotion Areas owned by actual farmers. This limited introduction strategy aims to preserve farmland by combining farming and power generation, while also creating additional income sources for farmers.

However, in order to utilize "publicly leased reserve farmland," one of the potential sites for solar installations under the Sunlight Pension, institutional improvements are necessary. Public reserve farmland is land purchased by the Korea Rural Community Corporation and leased to young people, return-to-farmers, and successor farmers who need farmland. Since tenants do not own the land but only lease it, they are not allowed to install agricultural solar power systems.

Furthermore, farmland eligible for agricultural solar power is limited to non-Agricultural Promotion Areas, not those designated solely for farming. According to the Korea Rural Community Corporation, 17,122.2 hectares (98.1%) of the total 17,454 hectares of public reserve farmland nationwide are located in Agricultural Promotion Areas. If limited to non-Agricultural Promotion Areas, only 1.9% of public reserve farmland would be available for the Sunlight Pension.

Agricultural solar power plant installed on farmland in Wolpyeong-eup, Yeomsan-myeon, Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

An official from the solar power industry stated, "It is necessary to design policies that distinguish between farm-level and village-level solar power projects," adding, "For individual farm units, the current standards should be maintained, but for village-level projects, it may be effective to apply certain exceptions." This means that for farm-level agricultural solar power, the government should continue its existing strategy?limiting installations to self-farmed, non-Agricultural Promotion Areas to preserve farmland?while for village communities, policies should be established to allow solar installations on leased farmland and in Agricultural Promotion Areas as well.

Expanding the power grid is also a challenge that must be addressed to implement the Sunlight Pension. To generate revenue from solar power, the electricity produced must be sold, which requires transmission and distribution networks to deliver it to consumers. However, there is already a backlog of applications for grid connections. According to Korea Electric Power Corporation's "Renewable Energy (Solar Power) Connection Status," as of May this year, the cumulative number of connection applications stands at 38.8 GW, with 8.9 GW still waiting for connection. This is equivalent to the capacity of nine 1 GW-class nuclear power plants. Due to the lack of transmission networks to carry the electricity, even if it is produced, it cannot be sold. In particular, the backlog is concentrated in the Honam region, where solar power generation is clustered, with 2.4 GW in Jeonnam (including Gwangju) and 1.8 GW in Jeonbuk.