The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Energy Bureau said yesterday next year’s feed-in tariffs for renewable energies would be finalized by the end of the month, after taking into account public feedback.
Energy Bureau Director--General Jerry Ou (歐嘉瑞) told a public -hearing yesterday that there were still issues to be ironed out since this is the first year that the government has implemented the renewable energies program.
The Legislature approved the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例) in June last year, allowing the government to provide subsidies or tax breaks to renewable power companies.
The ultimate goal is that renewable energies, such as solar power and wind power, will account for 15 percent of Taiwan’s total energy output in 20 years, Ou said.
In the public hearing, private firms said it had been difficult for them to apply for the government’s subsidy for renewable energy. They called for a simplified, transparent and efficient application process.
Su Jin-sheng (蘇金勝), a director at the bureau, said the government may cut the feed-in tariffs paid to generators of solar power next year because of the lower cost of installing equipment that converts sunlight to energy.
However, the government may increase the payments to producers of wind power, whose costs are increasing, Su said in an interview.
Feed-in tariffs, the prices that state-run utility Taiwan Power Co (台電) pays generators, are at least NT$11.12 per kilowatt-hour for photovoltaic solar panels and NT$2.38 for wind farms, the bureau announced in December last year. That compares with an average cost of NT$2.06 per kilowatt-hour for fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
The government has set minimum wholesale prices for electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines at higher levels than that from fossil fuels to spur production of renewable energy.
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