Back off: 'loathed' PV panels intensify separation rules in countryside

In this October 2018 photo, residents of Seonggeo-eup town in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, demand construction of a floating photovoltaic system at the town's reservoir ― led by the Korea Rural Community Corporation ― be shut down. The banner reads: "We object to PV facility disguised as being eco-friendly." Korea Times file

By Ko Dong-hwan

In 2018, in Boseong County, South Jeolla Province, the minimum legal distance between photovoltaic (solar power) systems and roads or residential areas in agricultural or fishery towns was reduced from 500 meters to 200 meters as the county revised its land planning regulations.

It resulted in an increase in license applications for PV panels in the county ― from 230 the previous year to about 1,000 that year ― as developers found ideal spots for their systems more easily near the community than on uneven, mountainous terrain.

But local residents, seeing the PV panels as an unwelcome encroachment, filed complaints. The county council, to appease them, not only changed the regulations back to the original but also introduced another regulation ― obligating future PV developers to obtain local residents' agreement.

A similar story unfolded in Okcheon County, North Chungcheong Province, where the county had revised its separation regulations ― reducing the 200 meters from roads to 100 meters and the 300 meters from residential areas to 100 meters. It also made residents' agreement non-mandatory when there were no more than four households in a residential area.

But the revision enraged county residents, who learned that the adjacent counties of Boeun and Yeongdong were enforcing a 500-meter distance.

Jangheung County in South Jeolla Province dropped a regulation that PV developers who offer a public fund to draw local residents' approval could be exempted from the solar panel distance ban. The county office's civic engineering division chief said: "Most of the county residents oppose the idea of PV panels no matter how much they get compensated.

"We discarded the exemption clause that will only arouse disputes (between residents and PV developers)."

Solar panels on a mountain in Maejeon-myeon town in Cheongdo County, North Gyeongsang Province, were destroyed by heavy rain and wind in July 2018. Because of the county's separation regulations revised in 2017, the panels could not be built on safer ground. Courtesy of Cheongdo County Office

Separation regulations in Korea's remote countryside regions have been local residents' trusty companion in their battle against PV systems, preventing the panels from being installed. The villagers oppose them because they say they are unsightly on mountains or paddies in the townships. They also fear the systems will cause environmental hazards like light pollution or contamination of town streams from panel cleaning chemicals.

Of the country's 229 cities and counties, 112 now enforce separation regulations, according to renewable energy analyst Yoon In-taek in his book. The distances vary depending on the jurisdictions ― from 100 meters recommended by the central government to 1,000 meters. Most jurisdictions, 33 percent, enforce 500 meters.

The number of cities and counties introducing the regulations is increasing, limiting the areas where PV developers can install their panels.

According to a guideline on PV system sites released in 2017 by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, there were 51 jurisdictions with the regulation in March that year. By the end of 2019, the figure had jumped to 112 in regard to roads and 104 concerning residential areas. Jurisdictions that ignored the guideline's recommended distance of 100 meters numbered 40 in 2017, rising to more than 80 by the end of 2019.

Describing the varying distances as "unanchored," Yoon said: "Introducing the regulation out of necessities deriving from geographical landscapes is OK but enforcing it to simply pamper complaining local residents or reduce public workers' workloads isn't right."

Drone shots of Jangsu County's Gyebuk-myeon town in North Jeolla Province show the village in 2015, left, and four years later when much of it was covered by solar panels. Korea Times file

Political cause?

The nation's PV operators are increasingly perturbed that local governments' renewable energy policies are outweighed by the interests of local residents who despise the facilities, according to the country's PV systems advocacy group. It says the reason is politically motivated ― winning elections and votes.

"Local residents against PV systems say the panels affect their townships' landscapes," Korea Solar Energy Development Association (KOSEDA) president Hong Ki-woong told The Korea Times. "But the argument's absurdity is no different from saying that 'vinyl houses have become an eyesore so we no longer want them on our fields.'

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"Our country's PV system industry and other renewable energy facilities supported by the central government's futuristic Green New Deal policies aren't gaining traction because local authorities, conscious of people's votes, keep cringing in front of their clueless complaints, even minor ones."

Local governments issue the development rights for PV system operators. Even if operators have already attained licensing rights for their solar panels, the systems cannot be installed when authorities do not approve the facilities' deployment in favor of disgruntled residents.

This has led to countless legal battles between PV developers and local communities over whether the solar panels can be installed at sites of clashing interest. Time and money spent processing the disputes have been burdensome on both sides, delaying the facilities' expansion throughout the country.

Hong said that to stop the problem, the central government must step in, singularly handling the development rights for PV panels nationwide based on transparent and scientific facts.

Rep. Eoh Kiy-ku of the Democratic Party of Korea. Yonhap

"Local jurisdictions' regulations in general are amended by mayors and lawmakers from those regions and could have been written not supportive of renewable energy facilities," Hong said.

Take the separation distance regulation for example. Despite the central government's 100-meter guideline, many local authorities ignore it and enforce their own rules that are harsher on PV developers. Hong said the regulation doesn't exist in other countries.

The energy ministry's New and Renewable Energy Policy Division official Lee Song-yi, who administers the regulation, told The Korea Times the ministry had launched internal discussions about the central government taking control of the regulation.

The ministry, to expand renewable energy facilities, has been giving local governments financial incentives. Among what determines the amount are population and land area. Hong said the criteria must now include how much electricity each local government aims to produce from renewable energy resources and how much they actually accomplish.

"It is not only a legitimate way for local governments to increase their budget, but also will encourage the authorities to become more willing to expand renewable energy facilities in their jurisdictions," Hong said.

The energy ministry confirmed it has begun what Hong suggested. Lee said the ministry started this year to include the amount of electricity from renewable energy resources in indexes of determining "ordinary incentives," and also includes the amount of electricity from new renewable energy facilities for "special incentives."

Rep. Eoh Kiy-ku of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea has taken on the problematic separation distance regulation. In early August, he proposed a revision to the New Energy and Renewable Energy Development, Use and Spread Promotion Act to have the regulation terminated nationwide.

The revision was aimed at expanding renewable energy facilities and stopping the conflict between PV panel developers and local communities. It could also offset problems where PV developers had bought land but had to resell it because the distance regulation prevented installation of solar panels.

Rep. Eoh's office declined to speak to The Korea Times over whether he has plans to deal with the possible repercussions from local residents once the revision passes the National Assembly and allows PV facilities near their communities. The office said it remains a "sensitive issue" and has no comment on the matter.

Goseong County in South Gyeongsang Province and the Korea South-East Power in June 2017 launched agrivoltaic farming facilities above fields in the county's Hai-myeon town. Courtesy of Goseong County Office

Fake news

An association of farmers who operate PV systems has criticized local residents for believing baseless rumors about solar panels' environmental impacts.

Kim Chang-han, executive secretariat of the Korea Agrivoltaic Association based in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, told The Korea Times that "fake news" has been stoking wrong information about PV systems and not just local residents but lawmakers supporting nuclear power plants over renewable energy resources have been listening to it.

Kim said that solar panels are mostly comprised of glass (76 percent), polymer (10 percent), aluminum (8 percent), silicon (5 percent) and copper (1 percent), and hazardous materials like silver, lead or tin are used in minute amounts.

There are PV panels made from cadmium telluride that contain environmentally hazardous heavy metals like chrome or cadmium, but, according to Kim, they are not shipped to Korea.

"Electromagnetic waves emitted by solar panels are less than a fifth of the national health standard, even less than what's coming out of a portable massage device," Kim said, referring to one of the most controversial points local residents often complain about. "And reflected light from the panels, according to the Korea Testing and Research Institute, is just 5 percent, safer than plastics."

Kim also referred to a myth-buster experiment by the University of Seoul's environmental engineering department from 2019 that chemically investigated the PV cell inside solar panels to debunk the rumor about its hazard. The result ― anticipated heavy metals like copper, lead, cadmium, zinc, mercury, chrome and hexavalent chrome were not found or were in amounts below the national hazardous standard.

"Fake news has been keeping the country's Plan 3020 (the central government's goal to have 20 percent of the national energy pool based on renewable resources by 2030) from leapfrogging, while the world is moving forward fast in that regard," Kim said. "Fake news is spread so fast on social networks it has increased its devastative social impact beyond imagination."