Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung on the 29th visited Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, a candidate site for the Sunlight Income Village, to check on the project's preparations.
The Minister that afternoon visited an idle area of a training ground at the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division (Tiger Unit) located in Sangpan-ri, Jojong-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province.
The training ground covers a total of 1.96 million square meters (about 600,000 pyeong). Of this, the site designated for the Sunlight Income Village is about 8,264 square meters (about 2,500 pyeong) of idle land within the training ground. The training ground was previously used for tank gun and direct-fire weapons shooting practice. This led to conflicts between the military and civilians over noise and vibrations, and it is now used for tactical training without live-fire exercises.
The Sunlight Income Village is an innovative, demand-centered energy self-governance model led directly by residents. It proceeds by installing village-level solar power plants using local resources such as idle village land, public land, reservoirs, and farmland, and by having residents operate them directly.
In particular, a key feature is that revenue generated from operating the plants does not flow out but is returned intact to improve the welfare of the village community and to provide residents with tangible income. Through this, it seeks both the recovery of the village community and the revitalization of the local economy.
The Minister toured the candidate site to ensure the idle area of the training ground can stand as a best-practice case of civil-military-government cooperation and checked on the project's preparations. He then attended a residents' meeting at the Community Service Center in Jojong-myeon, where he was briefed on the status of forming a village cooperative, plans to use the project site, and plans to install a ground-mounted solar power plant with a capacity of about 1 MW.
At the meeting, the Minister listened to on-the-ground difficulties and residents' suggestions, and exchanged in-depth views with residents on practical support measures.
The Minister said, "Each local government should take responsibility and play a leading role so that residents do not face difficulties in pushing the project forward due to administrative procedures or regulations," and added, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) will continue to give its full attention and support so that the Sunlight Income Village, a new innovative energy self-governance model, can take root successfully and spread nationwide."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), starting with a notice on Mar. 31, finished the first round of applications for the Sunlight Income Village by May and is set to make the final selection in July. It will also conduct the second round of applications through this month and aims to complete additional selections in September.