Ruiri Photonics Corporation plans to build a large solar panel substation in Xiecuo Village, Kouhu Township, Yunlin County, but has not properly communicated with local villagers, and it was not until 2023, when the construction was underway, that local villagers became aware of the development project. As a result, local villagers organised a self-help group to protest and block the construction, and set up a guard station outside the construction site to monitor it on a shift basis. Local villagers had also gone to the county government, the county council and the Legislative Yuan to voice their concerns about the lack of consultation on the project.

Ruiri Photonics then filed a complaint with the police department against local villagers for violating the Social Order Maintenance Act by illegally hanging protest banners, and a number of villagers were fined in June 2023. However, the court overturned the fine after concluding that the sanction had resulted in the villagers' "freedom of expression being violated and suppressed". In the same year, the company filed a separate complaint with the district prosecutor's office, alleging that local residents had intimidated, coerced and organised crimes against the company, but the prosecutor did not prosecute after investigating the case.