Korea’s citizens have been organizing their own energy cooperatives, and the new feed-in tariffs could encourage even more investment. Yi hyun Kang talks to stakeholders about their role in the energy transition. Last July, there was good news for citizen energy cooperatives in South Korea. The government introduced Feed-in-Tariffs (FIT) for plants of less than 100kW built by cooperatives, farmers or fishermen to encourage small scale solar PV plants. Although the FIT is limited to small scale power generation, this can boost more initiatives by citizens. However, a grassroots movement for the energy transition had already begun. The very first energy cooperative was established in Seoul in January 2013. Now there are more than 100 energy coops officially registered across the country. Local NGOs and environmental groups have been particularly active in organizing energy cooperatives, but more diverse actors are emerging. For example, there are energy coops by churches, Buddhist temples and other religious groups. Two main factors are said to contribute to the emerging of Korean energy cooperatives: shock from the Fukushima disaster, and the … Continue reading Grassroots solar energy in South Korea