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Taiwan Increases Renewable-Power Target After Law Spurs Demand
2010-09-28 16:01:01.0 GMT
By Yu-huay Sun
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan increased its target for
generating power from renewable sources after a new law spurred
demand for emissions-free electricity.
The nation aims to have 16 percent of installed power
capacity from renewable energy sources by 2025, compared with a
previous target of 15.1 percent, Linda Chen, chief secretary of
the Bureau of Energy, said at a forum in Taipei yesterday.
Taiwan's government set minimum wholesale prices for
electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines in
December at higher levels than for those for power from fossil
fuels to spur production of renewable energy. President Ma Ying-
jeou, who took office in May 2008, has pledged to cut emissions
to 2000 levels by 2025. Lawmakers approved the Renewable Energy
Development Act last year.
"Demand for renewable energy is robust," Chen said.
Renewable energy may account for 10 percent of installed
electricity capacity by the end of the year, compared with 8.2
percent currently, she said.
Feed-in tariffs, or the prices that state-run utility
Taiwan Power Co. pays generators, are at least NT$11.12 (35
cents) per kilowatt-hour for photovoltaic solar panels and
NT$2.38 for wind farms, the Bureau of Energy said in a statement
on its website in December. That compares with an average cost
of NT$2.06 per kilowatt-hour from fossil fuels.
The government has received 693 applications to build 405
megawatts of renewable energy capacity based on the preferred
tariffs, the energy bureau said on its website Sept. 24. One
megawatt can supply about 800 U.S. homes.
Energy Intensity
The government is taking steps to cut energy intensity, or
the amount of energy used per unit of gross domestic product, by
half before 2025, Chen said. The measures include subsidies for
purchases of equipment that conserve energy, she said.
The state also has proposed an energy tax, Chen said. There
is no timetable for implementation of the tax and the details
are being debated, according to Chen.
The industrialized island releases about three times more
heat-trapping gases per person than the world average, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The island's installed power capacity was 40,823 megawatts
as of July, according to Taiwan Power, the monopoly grid
operator. Natural gas-fueled generators accounted for 37 percent
of the total capacity, coal-fired stations 29 percent and
nuclear reactors 13 percent, according to Taipower. Other
sources included oil and hydroelectric power.
For Related News and Information:
Taiwan's energy statistics: NRGM TAIW <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Top electricity news: PTOP <GO>
Surveys on Taiwan's economic data: ECO TA <GO>
--With assistance from Janet Ong in Taipei. Editors: John
Chacko, Todd White
To contact the reporter on this story:
Yu-huay Sun in Taipei at +886-2-7719-1531 or
ysun7@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
