Surging Renewable Energy Demand and the Challenges of Local Government-Led Planned Siting As renewable energy demand surges, particularly in high-tech industries, reducing generation costs and securing stable project sites have emerged as core factors in corporate competitiveness. Multiple local governments are taking steps to attract businesses by relaxing solar setback distance regulations and presenting planned siting models that proactively support site identification and permitting.

Participation in Panel Discussion at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Renewable Energy Matching Forum Attorney Sungwoo (Goni) Kim of SOLARIS participated as a panelist in the policy session of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Renewable Energy Matching Forum held at The Westin Chosun Seoul on the 28th. This session served as a venue to share local governments' plans for establishing RE100 industrial ecosystems and to discuss actionable implementation measures.

Recommendations on Investment Structuring and Regulatory Transparency for Implementing Planned Siting Attorney Sungwoo (Goni) Kim positively assessed local governments' attempts to lower generation costs by reducing siting and permitting uncertainties. However, he pointed out that for these initiatives to translate into actual investment and commercial projects, they must be backed by clear legal structures and administrative criteria.

• (Investment Structuring) Large-scale power generation projects, such as agrivoltaics, are difficult to pursue solely with capital from farmers or cooperatives. Financial and business structures that allow external professional investors to participate legally and reliably recover returns must be designed starting from the bidding stage.

• (Disclosure of Administrative Support Scope) Even if selected through a local government bid, grid interconnection and permitting issues are not automatically resolved. By transparently disclosing the scope of administrative support that local governments can provide and the relaxed permitting standards, the predictability for project developers can be enhanced, thereby minimizing disputes and facilitating smooth project financing.

SOLARIS will continue to deliver trusted legal solutions to businesses and investors by analyzing complex regulatory and financing structure issues arising across the renewable energy and power industries.