German firm InfraVest Wind Power Co (英華威集團), Taiwan’s only private wind power generator, confirmed yesterday it was pulling out of the market because it “doesn’t have confidence” in the government’s push for renewable energy.
“It is ending now,” vice president Yuni Wang (王雲怡) said. “We are not putting more investment into Taiwan this year.”
Without further capital, the company will not build more wind farms or purchase wind turbines, she told the Taipei Times at her Taipei office, adding the company was in the middle of “dealing with” its existing equipment.
The measures include selling the equipment and wind farms, she said, but the company was still waiting for the announcement of concrete details.
InfraVest has more than 50 employees in Taipei and it recently retrenched one-fifth of them, with a second layoff to come in the next two months, she said. Employees approached for a comment refused to say anything except that they “were worried.”
The company entered Taiwan in 2000 and has since poured more than NT$10 billion (US$3 billion) into local operations. Its pullout follows the government’s announcement in December that it would buy energy produced by private firms’ wind-powered generators at NT$2.38 per kilowatt.
“This is too low and for us to make a profit. The price should be in the range of NT$2.9 to NT$3.5 per kilowatt, like what is happening in China,” Wang said.
The Bureau of Energy said that the tariffs were decided after public hearings and evaluation committee’s meetings, adding it would be hard to please every company.
Since the government’s purchase of renewable energy would be transferred to the public, the tariffs must not burden the public, the bureau said in a statement.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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