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Taiwan lagging in renewable energy

Taiwan is lagging behind other countries in the development of its renewable energy sector, which will require comprehensive legislation and an injection of more money if the government wants to make sustainable production work in Taiwan, experts said.

"Exploiting green energy is a must for Taiwan, especially since it relies heavily on imported energy, which accounts for 97.9 percent of national consumption," Chan Shih-hung (詹世弘), chairman of the Taiwan Renewable Energy Industry Promotion Association (台灣新能源產業促進協會), said at the National Energy Conference on Monday.

In a report issued after the conference, the government said it plans to expand renewable energy sources to supply between 4 percent and 6 percent of the nation's power by 2020, and between 5 percent and 7 percent by 2025.

This corresponds to targets set after the previous national energy meeting in 1998.

The goal is much lower than that of countries like Germany, which plans to boost renewable energy sources to supply 12.5 percent of all its electricity by 2010, and Japan, with a goal of 10.8 percent over the same period, Chu Hsin-sen (曲新生), executive vice president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, said at the conference.

Taiwan wants to develop the means of harnessing solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass energy, with hydroelectric and wind power having the most potential, Chu said.

The first step would be to pass the proposed statute on the development of renewable energy (再生能源發展條例) into law to serve as a guideline for the development of sustainable power sources, he said.

A lack of funds is another major obstacle, Chu said. He said the US, Japan and EU each devote around US$300 million a year to further the development of hydrogen power, while Taiwan has only budgeted US$7.8 million.

As a result, key technology and equipment to produce renewable energy are being controlled by foreign enterprises, he said.
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