Several solar power suppliers yesterday urged the government to raise its wholesale electricity tariffs because the industry is facing severe pricing competition and rising maintenance costs.
In accordance with falling solar panel installation costs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Oct. 8 renewed its wholesale electricity tariffs, which is set to take effect next year.
Wholesale electricity tariffs on solar energy suppliers for the January-to-June period next year were reduced by between 12 percent and 14 percent from the July-to-December period this year.
With an additional 2 percent to 3 percent decline planned for the second half of next year, wholesale electricity tariffs on solar energy suppliers would fall by up to 16 percent to NT$4.72 per 1,000 kilowatt-hour from the current NT$5.62, according to the Bureau of Energy.
“It is going to be intolerable for solar power suppliers to operate with the government’s wholesale electricity tariffs further contracting because each player can no longer make a profit as a result of intensifying pricing competition,” Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Association (TPVIA) chairman Cheng Po-wen (鄭博文) said at a hearing held by the ministry in Taipei.
Citing rules in the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例), Cheng said the government limited the number of solar panel installations permitted to be set up by firms, and forced them to trim maintenance costs and other operating expenses in order to make a profit because of falling wholesale electricity tariffs.
In response, bureau officials said they adjusted the wholesale electricity price in accordance with the decreasing average expense of solar panel installations.
However, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said the act prevented firms from gaining competitiveness because it banned them from increasing their number of solar panel installations every year.
To ensure the industry’s long-term development, the government should revamp either the act or the bidding process local solar power suppliers must go through, Tien said at the hearing.
Bureau officials said they would consider the suggestions from all parties when making a decision.
In a bid to encourage firms to to build installations on outlying islands, the bureau said it would purchase renewable energy generated on Kinmen and Matsu with a 15 percent premium.
Besides solar, wholesale electricity tariffs on wind, biomass, hydro and geothermal power had been set to increase by between 0.31 percent and 16.05 percent at a range of between NT$2.5 and NT$8.6 per 1,000 kilowatt-hour, according to the bureau.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy