Moon Administration Invested 3.8 Trillion Won in Solar Power... Renewable Energy Share Increases Only Slightly

Lee Joo-hwan, People Power Party Lawmaker, Report on 'Moon Administration's Solar Power Projects'
Solar Power Budget: 511.8 Billion KRW in 2017 → 951.9 Billion KRW in 2021

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Although the Moon Jae-in administration drastically increased the budget for renewable energy in line with its nuclear phase-out policy, pouring about 3.8 trillion won over five years, the increase in power generation was minimal.

According to a report titled "Moon Jae-in Government's Solar Power Project," received by People Power Party lawmaker Lee Joo-hwan of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee from the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, the total budget spent on renewable energy over the past five years (2017?2021) was confirmed to be 5.8 trillion won.

Among this, the budget allocated to solar power was 3.8455 trillion won (65.8%), accounting for more than half. Additionally, 482.3 billion won was invested in wind power, and 459 billion won in hydrogen fuel cells. The solar power budget was about 511.8 billion won in 2017 but increased every year, reaching 951.9 billion won last year. This represents an approximately 86% surge compared to 2017.

Solar power generation facilities also significantly increased during the Moon Jae-in administration. As of the end of last year, the cumulative installed capacity of solar power was 18,659 MW (megawatts), of which 14,392 MW was newly installed over the five years from 2017 to 2021. The number of solar power plants also greatly increased, from 35,508 sites as of 2018 to 68,635 sites installed over the three years from 2019 to 2021.

Nevertheless, lawmaker Lee pointed out that the share of renewable energy in total power generation remained almost stagnant. According to the "Energy Generation Share Trends by Energy Type" on the e-Nara Index, renewable energy increased by only 2.7 percentage points from 4.8% in 2016, before the Moon Jae-in administration took office, to 7.5% in 2021. The increase between 2018 and 2021, when the budget was heavily invested, was only 1.3 percentage points.

Concerns are also rising over the increase in waste solar panels due to the expansion of solar power. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Environment to lawmaker Lee's office, a total of 2,259 tons of waste solar panels were generated nationwide by city and province from 2019 to the end of June this year. Specifically, 246 tons in 2019, 767 tons in 2020, 754 tons in 2021, and 389 tons up to the end of June this year were generated.

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