Minister Lee Chang-yang: "Apologies for Moon Government's 'Solar Power Corruption', Will Announce New Policy"

Moon Criticizes 'Solar Power Corruption'... "Regrettable Though It Was Previous Government's Issue"
Recent 'Poor Execution' Revealed... Unfair Support Amounts to 261.6 Billion Won
Yoon Also Strongly Criticizes... "Taxpayer Money Used for Interest Cartel, Regrettable"
Government Plans to Expand Full Investigation... Indicates Solar Power Policy Reform

Former President Moon Jae-in Touring Floating Solar Power Facilities
(Gunsan=Yonhap News) Photo by Hwang Kwang-mo = Former President Moon Jae-in is touring the floating solar power facilities at the Usuji floating solar power site in Gunsan City, Jeollabuk-do, after the 'Saemangeum Renewable Energy Vision Declaration Ceremony' held on October 30, 2018. 2018.10.30
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[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, apologized for the solar power project corruption during the Moon Jae-in administration, saying, "Although it happened under the previous government, I feel sorry." Minister Lee announced that after conducting a full investigation into the renewable energy projects that were a priority under the previous administration, a new policy would be introduced.

Minister Lee made these remarks on the 16th at the '1st Meeting of the Energy Policy Advisory Committee' held at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. He said, "During the previous government's rapid promotion of renewable energy distribution, illegal and improper cases occurred, revealing overall poor execution," and added, "Although these incidents happened under the previous government, as the minister in charge of renewable energy, I feel sorry."

The poor execution cases mentioned by Minister Lee were revealed through a recent government investigation. Earlier, the Government Joint Corruption Prevention Task Force under the Prime Minister's Office conducted a joint inspection from September last year to August this year on the operation status of the Electricity Industry Infrastructure Fund (Electricity Fund) projects and announced that 2,267 cases (amounting to 261.6 billion KRW) of illegal and improper cases were detected. The Electricity Industry Infrastructure Fund projects were used for renewable energy distribution and other purposes, with approximately 12 trillion KRW invested over the past five years.

Minister Lee Chang-yang Chairs Energy Innovation Companies Business Roundtable
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, is chairing the 'Energy Innovation Companies Business Roundtable' held on the 15th at the Korea Technology Center Grand Conference Room in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. September 15, 2022 [Provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Resale and DB prohibited]
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261.6 Billion KRW in Poor Support... Yoon Criticizes as "Interest Cartel"

Most of the detected poor support funds were invested in renewable energy projects. Of the 261.6 billion KRW in poor support funds, 70.6% (184.7 billion KRW) was used for the distribution of solar power and other renewable energies. Considering that this government investigation was a sample survey conducted on 12 out of 226 local governments nationwide, the actual amount of poorly executed support funds could increase to the scale of 1 to 2 trillion KRW.

The problem lies in the fact that the Electricity Fund is a quasi-tax fund. The Electricity Fund is raised by 3.7% of the electricity bill paid monthly by citizens. This is why there are criticisms that taxpayers' money was improperly used in the previous government's renewable energy distribution projects. President Yoon Seok-yeol criticized the solar power corruption on the 15th, saying, "It is deplorable that taxpayers' money was used in an interest cartel."

Originally, there were consistent opinions that external audits of the Electricity Fund were insufficient. Although it is a large-scale fund amounting to trillions of KRW annually, there were criticisms that external institution audits on its operation and execution details were inadequate. Controversy also arose as the previous government used the Electricity Fund to cover losses related to the early shutdown of Wolseong Unit 1, which was closed due to the nuclear phase-out policy, and the establishment and operation costs of the Korea Energy Engineering University (KEEU), a national project.

Former President Moon Jae-in Touring Floating Solar Power Facilities
(Gunsan=Yonhap News) Photo by Hwang Kwang-mo = Former President Moon Jae-in is touring the floating solar power facilities at the floating solar power site in Yusuji, Gunsan City, Jeollabuk-do, after the 'Saemangeum Renewable Energy Vision Declaration Ceremony' held on October 30, 2018. 2018.10.30
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2.65 Million Trees Cut in 5 Years... Moon's Solar Power Policy Likely to be Revised

The problems with the 'solar power drive' promoted by the previous government do not end there. According to data recently submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Forest Service to Assemblyman Ahn Byung-gil of the People Power Party, a total of 2,645,236 trees were damaged by installing solar power facilities on mountain areas from 2017 to last year. Considering that the Korea Forest Service planted 47,527 new trees through reforestation projects last year, the number of trees cut for solar power over the past five years would take 55 years to recover. Additionally, the mountain area covered by solar power facilities over the past five years was 5,184 hectares (ha), which is 18 times the size of Yeouido (1 ha = 10,000 square meters).

In response, Minister Lee expressed his intention to conduct a full investigation into the Electricity Fund projects. He said, "In the future, related ministries will thoroughly examine the project execution process through a full investigation," and added, "We will strengthen management and supervision along with fundamental institutional improvements to eradicate improper acts." In fact, the Prime Minister's Office plans to expand the sample survey of Electricity Fund projects to a full investigation. They also plan to file civil lawsuits or recover improperly paid subsidies and loans.

He also hinted at a major overhaul of renewable energy policies. Minister Lee said, "There have been several problems in renewable energy policies, including excessive preferential treatment of cooperatives, concentration on small-scale solar power, and grid burdens," and added, "We plan to promptly prepare a new 'renewable energy policy direction' to correct these issues." This is interpreted as a plan to fundamentally review renewable energy policies to prevent solar power corruption recently revealed by government investigations, such as splitting projects to award contracts without bidding to favor specific companies.

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