The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment is reviewing a plan for private power generators to install and operate the energy storage systems (ESS) needed by Solar Income Villages. The idea is to use private operators to secure sufficient ESS for grid stability while reducing the cost burden on residents participating in the small-scale Solar Income Villages.
Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment, made the remarks at a "Meeting to Improve the Solar Income Village ESS Project," held Tuesday at the Han River Flood Control Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The meeting was attended by a wide range of participants, including the Solar Income Village task force, energy-related institutions, virtual power plant (VPP) operators, related associations and organizations, and experts.
Solar Income Villages are a project in which local residents form a cooperative to operate solar power plants on idle local land. The government plans to establish Solar Income Villages in more than 2,500 locations nationwide by 2030. The problem is that, amid a surge in renewable energy generation capacity, installing ESS is essential for Solar Income Villages to properly connect to the power grid. Because the installed capacity of a Solar Income Village's solar power plant is small, at a maximum of 1 megawatt (MW), it is not easy to install ESS in each individual village.
In response, the meeting proposed a plan for private VPPs to bundle several Solar Income Villages into one and build and operate a shared ESS. A VPP refers to an operator that links small and medium-sized power sources scattered across multiple regions and operates them as if they were a single large power plant. If a VPP bundles the projects of several Solar Income Villages and operates a sufficiently large ESS, individual Solar Income Villages can reduce the burden of ESS construction costs, while the VPP can generate revenue from operating the ESS. Operators also highlighted that ESS helps stabilize the grid, and requested support for securing project sites and reducing costs.
The government believes that if VPPs install and operate ESS in this way, not only will more regions apply for Solar Income Villages, but a new VPP-based energy market will also be invigorated. "We will push forward the project so that reducing the burden on residents and harnessing private-sector expertise can together expand resident income and stabilize the regional power grid," Minister Kim said. "We will actively reflect on-the-ground opinions in policy design."
