Hanwha Q CELLS Holds Harvest Ceremony at Agricultural Solar Farm in Namhae, Gyeongnam

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Hanwha Q CELLS announced on the 13th that it held a rice harvesting event at the agrivoltaic pilot site in Gwandang Village, Namhae, Gyeongnam Province, together with Korea South-East Power Co., Ltd.

About 20 people participated in this harvesting ceremony, including representatives from Hanwha Q CELLS, which provided the agrivoltaic modules; Korea South-East Power, which established the Rural Coexistence Cooperation Fund to support resident-participatory agrivoltaic projects; the Gwandang Village Social Cooperative, which provided farmland; and the construction partner KLES. This agrivoltaic power plant, installed in June last year with a capacity of 100kW, is one of six pilot sites built with the Rural Coexistence Cooperation Fund from Korea South-East Power. The profits from the power plant are used as village development funds.

Unlike conventional land-based solar power plants where the site is used solely for solar power generation, agrivoltaics generate solar power above the farmland while simultaneously cultivating crops below. In other words, it allows for maintaining farmland while generating solar power, enabling efficient use of land resources.

The reason farming and solar power generation can coexist in agrivoltaics is that it preserves the amount of photosynthesis necessary for crop growth. Light exceeding the light saturation point?the threshold of maximum photosynthetic requirement for crop growth?does not affect photosynthesis and is thus utilized for solar power generation.

Additionally, agrivoltaics secure space for farming machinery such as rice transplanters and combines. Typically, agrivoltaic systems are installed 3.5 meters above the ground to allow farming equipment to move freely beneath the solar panels. Because the modules are installed higher than in conventional land-based solar power plants, smaller modules are used to reduce structural load and enhance safety.

As of 2019, domestic farmland in South Korea covers approximately 1.6 million hectares. Installing agrivoltaics on 5% of this area could build about 32GW of power plants. This amount of electricity corresponds to the annual household electricity consumption of approximately 9.17 million households based on a family of four. This figure exceeds 130% of the 25GW target for new solar and wind power installations set in the Green New Deal plan announced last July for the period from 2021 to 2025.

Despite its potential for efficient land use, coexistence with farming households, and market potential, agrivoltaics have not been able to thrive domestically due to restrictions under the Enforcement Decree of the Farmland Act. Solar power plants have a lifespan of over 25 years; those installed on public land can operate for 30 years, and general solar power plants can operate for at least 20 years.

The Enforcement Decree of the Farmland Act limits the temporary use permit period for agrivoltaics under other uses to a maximum of 8 years. After 8 years, power plants with more than half of their lifespan remaining must be dismantled. This results in inefficiency by operating power plants that can run for at least 20 years for only 8 years, thereby increasing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE).

In this regard, on June 1, Park Jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, submitted a bill to the National Assembly to extend the temporary use permit period for agrivoltaics under other uses to a maximum of 20 years. The bill is currently under review by the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Fisheries Committee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.