Minister Kim Sungwhan: "Promoting Grid Income for Transmission Line Areas"

Meeting Held with Representatives Opposing Power Grid Construction
Fairness and Transparency of Site Selection Committee to Be Enhanced
Opposition Committee: "A Social Dialogue Body Is Needed"

Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of the Ministry of Climate Energy and Environment, is presiding over a meeting with regional representatives opposing the construction of transmission power grids and Korea Electric Power Corporation officials at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, on May 8, 2026. Photo by Ministry of Climate Energy and Environment

The government is pursuing a plan to provide "grid income," an annual financial benefit in addition to compensation payments, to residents living in areas traversed by high-voltage transmission lines. Additionally, the procedures for selecting transmission line sites will be improved, including measures to enhance the fairness and transparency of the Transmission Grid Site Selection Committee.

Kim Sungwhan, Minister of the Ministry of Climate Energy and Environment, stated at a meeting with representatives of the committee opposing transmission line construction, held on the afternoon of May 8 at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, "We are working on improvements to ensure that residents living near transmission lines receive substantial benefits, and we are preparing measures to provide additional advantages through grid income."

Currently, the power authorities provide grants and compensation to residents living near transmission and substation facilities in accordance with the Act on Compensation and Support for Areas Surrounding Transmission and Substation Facilities (the Transmission and Substation Act). In addition, under the Special Act on Power Grid, local governments with overhead transmission lines receive 2 billion won in support per kilometer.

The government plans to further strengthen community acceptance by introducing an independent income-generation scheme for residents living near high-voltage transmission lines. The Ministry of Climate Energy and Environment will review aspects such as the business structure and procedures for grid income, eligible participants, funding sources, and necessary institutional improvements.

Separately, the ministry plans to review an amendment to the enforcement decree of the Transmission and Substation Act to ensure that the total support budget is linked to the inflation rate and can be increased annually. It will also promote an amendment to the enforcement decree of the Special Act on Power Grid to prioritize support for residents affected by the transmission lines.

On this day, the ministry announced that it would strengthen the representativeness of members of the site selection committee and operate related procedures more substantively to ensure that residents' opinions are genuinely reflected at each project's site selection stage. Measures to enhance procedural transparency, such as expanding resident briefings, were also discussed.

The ministry also plans to promote participation of private sector experts and hold public hearings during the establishment of transmission and substation facility plans, as is already done with the Basic Plan for Electric Power Supply and Demand, to ensure procedural legitimacy and transparency.

Minister Kim explained to local residents, "While we are striving to maintain the fundamental principles and direction as much as possible, the construction of transmission lines is sometimes unavoidable in order to connect areas with a surplus of power to those with a deficit."

The national representatives of the committees opposing the power grid, who attended the meeting, evaluated the government's improvement measures positively but emphasized the need for a social dialogue body to discuss the construction of the transmission grid.

Lee Junghyun, co-executive director of the Jeonbuk Countermeasures Committee for the Cancellation of Transmission Tower Construction, said at the meeting, "We see the conflict over transmission towers not merely as a siting issue but as a problem of balanced regional development." He further stated, "This issue cannot be resolved solely by improving the site selection committee system, providing resident support, or introducing grid income." He added, "A social dialogue body is needed to change the current system in which other regions are forced to make sacrifices in order to concentrate power-intensive businesses, such as the Yongin Semiconductor Industrial Complex, in one area."

Meanwhile, this meeting was the second following the initial session held on April 10.

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