국내 재생에너지 주민참여제도의 문제점 및 개선방안 - 분배적 참여와 절차적 참여를 중심으로

Low community acceptance of renewable energy remains a major problem for its expansion in Korea, causing delays in the licensing process. To improve local acceptance, the Korean government has been operating a community participation system of renewable energy. This study analyzed the problems of current laws and systems related to community participation in renewable energy in Korea—considering distributive and procedural participation. Instead of allowing residents to participate in the investment, the current system of distributive participation operates in a manner similar to the compensation scheme. Although its importance has been emphasized recently, procedural participation is limited to large-scale projects and formal participation. Hence, focusing on the cases of the UK and Denmark, the system for community shared ownership and benefit sharing was reviewed considering distributive participation, and the public consultation system for licensing and environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes were examined in terms of procedural participation. The results of the case study confirmed that although the investment opportunities in power generation projects are guaranteed to the residents, no benefits are provided for costs or risks. Procedurally, EIA is mandatory for small-scale wind power projects, and repeated consultations with residents is ensured from the initial stages to ascertain practical impacts on the projects. In conclusion, this study suggested strengthening the actual investment participation, expanding the residents’ participation range, and institutionalizing benefit sharing as measures to improve distributive participation; ensuring interactive and practical consultation procedures in licensing and EIA process were suggested as ways to improve procedural participation.