South Korea has approved a revised enforcement decree that sets national upper limits on setback distances for renewable energy facilities, with solar projects capped at 200 meters from residential areas and wind projects at 1,500 meters from residential areas and 500 meters from roads. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said the decree was approved at a Cabinet meeting on August 11 as a follow-up to the Renewable Energy Development, Use and Distribution Promotion Act amended in March, which takes effect on September 18. The government said the change is meant to curb excessive local regulation rather than impose a single national standard, after 129 of the country's 228 local governments adopted widely differing setback ordinances ranging from 100 to 1,000 meters for solar and 100 to 2,000 meters for wind. Residential areas are defined as clusters of at least five homes, and local governments may set shorter distances but cannot exceed the new caps. New ordinances will no longer be allowed to impose solar setback rules based on roads. Wind projects must still maintain a minimum distance equal to twice the height of the facility for safety reasons. The decree also exempts resident-participatory power generation facilities, rooftop solar installations and self-consumption solar projects from setback regulations in a bid to strengthen community acceptance and encourage revenue-sharing models. The law also separates the previous new and renewable energy framework into distinct renewable energy and hydrogen acts and corresponding enforcement decrees, while the government plans nationwide briefings for local authorities ahead of implementation.