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.
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