In this installment of our series on North Korea’s energy sector, we move away from official and commercial uses of solar and seek to understand the growing use of solar power for personal energy consumption in a country where its people still suffer from an unreliable power supply nationwide.

Data from recent interviews of North Korean defectors corroborate an astounding lack of state-provided electricity.¹Interviews were conducted by 38 North staff in June and November 2022. This shortage affects both urban and rural areas across the country, adversely impacting state-owned facilities, homes and even mobile phone connectivity, which has become ubiquitous in everyday life and the North’s private economy. While alternative forms of energy—such as diesel power and illegal power grid hook-ups—exist, for many, the answer is a solar panel.

Defector interviews, along with DPRK state media and satellite imagery, point to an uptick in personal solar installations over the last decade as many citizens have seemingly given up expecting the government to provide adequate and consistent electricity and are adopting a “do-it-yourself” attitude in order to live their lives.

How It Works

A typical installation of solar panels is simple: a solar panel on a roof or balcony is connected via regulator to a large battery. During the day, electricity from the solar panel trickle charges the battery. At night, the power from the battery can be harnessed to either directly power low-voltage devices or is fed through an inverter to provide a 100-volt supply for household appliances.

Estimations on the size of the panels varied in our interviews, but most were around 60 square centimeters. According to interviewees, that was enough to provide at least 100 watts and run a small appliance each evening.

The amount of power is limited by the capacity of the battery, the charge that can be supplied by the solar panel, and the actual amount of sunlight that can be harnessed. The longer, brighter summer days provide more power than shorter, darker winter days. One defector reported the months from January to April are especially bad, with cloudy and rainy days also resulting in less power.

“We charged up a battery using a solar panel that is made in China. We would charge it in the daytime. It was sufficient to provide electricity to use for one night. But on rainy days or cloudy days, we cannot charge the solar panels. Theoretically, we had electricity cables [to our apartment]. Cables are also set up in rural areas as well, but, in reality, we did not get electricity.”

Interviewee Lives in Hyesan and Left North Korea in 2019

The Rise of DPRK Citizen Solar

It has been more than a decade since the first personal solar panels entered the country from China. Availability and prices began improving following the 2012 Pyongyang International Trade Fair and got better in the last five years as domestic panels came on the market. A small solar panel can reportedly be bought for around $15-$50, making it an attractive alternative to costly generators and batteries.

Read the full analysis on 38 North.