Solar panels have already beaten this year’s capacity target of 1.63 gigawatts (GWs) amid fast proliferation under Moon Jae-in administration promoting renewable sourcing.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Thursday, solar power generators with a combined capacity of 1.64 GWs have been installed across the country this year as of the end of June, exceeding this year’s target of 1.63 GWs. Last year, it took 10 months for the country to achieve its target of 1.42 GWs.

Small solar farms with a generation capacity of 1-megawatt (MW) or less made up the majority – 92.1 percent or 1.5 GWs of the entire solar plants added this year. In particular, the demand for solar facility with 1-MW capacity or less but above 100-kilowatt was high. Their share this year stood as 54.8 percent as of the end of July, up from 46.2 percent from a year-ago period.

South Jeolla Province was the most active in going solar. It installed solar farms with a total generation capacity of 0.3 GW. Its neighboring provinces also actively participated in the clean energy movement – North Jeolla installing 0.28 GW, South Chungcheong 0.23 GW, North Gyeongsang 0.21 GW, and South Gyeongsang 0.13 GW.

The quality of solar power in the country also has improved. Solar panels with energy efficiency of 18 percent or higher accounted for only 34.8 percent of the domestic market last year but their share more than doubled to reach 80.1 percent this year.

By Lim Sung-hyun and Cho Jeehyun

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