Taiwan Sets Solar Goals

When it comes to solar, Taiwan is shooting for the sun. The Asian semiconductor powerhouse, whose parliament passed in June a crucial renewable energy bill which seeks to add between 6,500 and 10,000 megawatts of installed renewable energy over the next 20 years, announced last week its goal to raise its solar panel capacity from five megawatts to 1,000 megawatts by 2025. Taiwanese Bureau of Energy deputy head Wang Yunn-ming was the first to break the news last Friday.

“We hope to encourage the use of renewable energy with competitive prices,” Wang told AFP.

The bill is part of Taiwan’s efforts to reduce emissions to 2008 levels by 2016, and to 2000 levels by 2025. The technologically-advanced island currently produces a mere 2,278 megawatts—5.8 percent—of installed capacity from clean energy sources, a number the government hopes to raise by offering incentives and relaxing regulations on renewable energy providers. Through the bill, it hopes to create a pricing mechanism for technologies such as wind or solar power, and will set the wholesale prices for renewable energy by the end of the year, according to Wang.

The effect of the bill is as of yet unclear on foreign investors, though Taiwanese media have reported that it will generate at least 30 billion Taiwanese dollars (930 million US dollars) in investment in the first year and produce more than 10,000 jobs. The origin of these numbers in unclear, though obviously the sentiment is one of overriding optimism (and why wouldn’t it be?). Further details from the Taiwanese government are presumably forthcoming.