South Korea is expected to install 3.5 GW of solar this year, according to a report from the Korea Eximbank.

The state-owned export credit agency’s report adds the country installed 3.1 GW of solar in 2025, meaning the market is set to grow this year.

The Japan and Republic of Korea programme of the EU Business Hub, an EU-funded incentive supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, told pv magazine the Korean government is working on a next-generation distributed power grid to facilitate greater integration of distributed energy resources.

“The government’s next-generation distributed-grid programme is intended to address the integration of distributed energy resources through measures including microgrids,” a statement from the hub explained. “Operators for these projects were due to be selected in the second quarter of 2026 following calls launched in the first quarter.”

A key development in South Korea this year has been the implementation of its Sunshine Income Villages initiative, a scheme that will install solar PV facilities on idle land, farmland and reservoirs, with local residents forming cooperatives to participate in the projects via energy and profit sharing.

The first villages to take part in the scheme were selected in August, while a second call has already taken place. The country’s Ministry of Interior and Safety has set a target of identifying 700 solar villages this year, increasing to 2,500 by 2030.

The EU Business Hub added that distribution-grid energy storage systems also feature in the government’s development of a next-generation distributed power grid.

In July, South Korea signed its first deals to build energy storage systems directly on distribution lines, through agreements with nine companies totaling 128 MW/640 MWh of energy storage systems across 32 lines in areas where capacity issues have left new solar projects waiting in interconnection queues.

The country is targeting 700 MW of distribution-line energy storage systems by 2030, according to previous reports, which it says would enable an additional 1 GW of renewable interconnection capacity.

Korea Eximbank’s report adds that increased policy support is needed to ensure that expansion of the country’s domestic solar market. The EU Business Hub told pv magazine this encompasses “preferential support for domestically produced products, as well as expanding financial support to help Korean companies secure overseas solar projects.”

Earlier this week, South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) launched a new solar industry competitiveness committee centered around rebuilding the country’s domestic solar supply chain.

South Korea is working to reach 100 GW of renewables capacity by the end of the decade, according to its First Renewable Energy Basic Plan published earlier this year, up from about 37.1 GW at the time of the plan’s announcement. The plans calls for roughly 56.2 GW of new solar capacity, split between 12 GW of large grid-connected complexes and 44.2 GW from designated sites including industrial rooftops, agrivoltaic and floating installations, transport corridors and public buildings.

In August, construction got underway on South Korea’s largest solar complex to date, a 400 MW solar PV complex to be built on approximately 4.79 million square metres of idle land.