EcoWorldly

In many ways, Shinhyocheon is just a typical suburb. It’s in Nam-gu, on the southern outskirts of Gwangju, one of South Korea’s biggest cities. In fact, if you don’t look closely, the Shinhyocheon solar village is easy to miss. Of the 1.4 million people living in Gwangju, most have never heard of it. Local taxi drivers wrinkle their brows and shrug; even the tourist information center in downtown Gwangju has trouble finding it on the map.

But for those who know it, Shinhyocheon deserves a place in energy history. In 2004, it became South Korea’s first solar village – a neighborhood of 64 solar powered houses where residents enjoy cheap, clean energy. The solar panels in this neighborhood generate over 115 KW of energy in a year. For each resident, that translates into an annual savings of around $589 USD, or a total of $37,700 for all 64 houses combined.

Inspired by Shinhyocheon’s success, the local government is planning to expand the number of solar houses in Nam-gu by adding 340 new sun-powered residential buildings.

• » See also: Delhi’s Air Pollution Levels Rising Again
• » Get EcoWorldly by RSS or sign up by email.

With South Korea attempting to tackle climate change, the environmental benefits of placing solar panels on homes are obvious. However, the government’s decision to test large-scale domestic solar technology in Shinhyocheon came mostly from South Korea’s drive to reduce reliance on foreign fossil fuel imports. In a way, Shinhyocheon is an experiment in energy independence.

In the Economy Department of nearby Nam-gu City Hall, city employee Bak Se-ra explains, “Global Warming is one reason [for Shinhyocheon], but I think the first reason is the energy savings.”

The actual construction costs of the village were some $1,510,000 USD, but each resident only had to pay 30% of the solar panel’s cost. The rest was underwritten by the central government.

That was under South Korea’s previous system of solar energy financing. Since 2007, the government will now pay for 60% of the installation costs for widely used solar technology and 80% of the costs for new, more expensive technology.

After hearing about it, I decided to visit Shinhyocheon. As a network of buses and taxis takes me closer to Shinhyocheon, the cement grid of the city begins to fray. On the far side of this small suberb, the outer edges of Gwangju eventually disolve into the low-lying ridges of the ancient mountains that ripple throughout South Korea.

Each house in the green village produces 2.1 kW, or around 2/3 of the energy required by the typical South Korean household. If such a high fraction of the nation’s energy needs could be met by solar energy, then solar villages like Shinhyocheon could become much more common. They might be an important answer in solving the clean energy riddle in South Korea and throughout the world.

“I’m convinced that in the future, houses will have this system,” said Bak, “because there is no pollution and the house itself can produce energy.”

Photo credit: Gwangju City, Nam-go

Tweet This Post

You might also like: