Google hopes to purchase renewable energy in Taiwan for its data center in Changhua County, a company official said yesterday at the New Energy Leadership Forum in Taipei.
“Google has two data centers in Asia, one in Singapore and one in Taiwan. We have not purchased any renewable energy in Taiwan so far,” said Marsden Hanna, Google’s head for global energy policy and markets.
Hanna said the company’s long-term goal is for each of its data centers, including the one in Taiwan, to be 100 percent powered by renewable energy.
Google initially planned to purchase renewable energy from state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), which has a monopoly in the nation’s electricity market. However, the company turned its back on Taipower, saying the energy provided by the utility is not “green” enough to satisfy its requirements.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) yesterday said the government is still discussing details of the green energy deal with Google. Lee said the US search engine giant has a strong demand for renewable energy in the long term.
“Google has rejected the proposal to invest in power generation at local industrial zones, as the company wants to focus on its core business,” Lee said.
To meet Google’s standards, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning to submit a draft amendment to the Electricity Act (電業法) to the Executive Yuan.
The draft aims to liberalize and privatize the nation’s power industry, helping private power suppliers enter the green energy market.
However, the draft has not been forwarded due to objections from the Taiwan Power Labor Union.
“We are trying to find other solutions,” Lee said. “It still takes a new market structure for the local power industry [to solve the problem].”
Lee said he hopes the draft can be passed into law as soon as possible, without giving a clear schedule.
Google has committed to purchasing more than 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy, making it the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world.
The company has also committed to a nearly US$2.5 billion investment in renewable energy projects, its Web site showed.
In April, Google announced a funding plan for the Center for Resource Solutions to create certificates for renewable power in Asia.
The nonprofit center said it supports expansion of renewable energy market infrastructure throughout Asia, with initial efforts focused on advancing renewable energy purchasing options in Taiwan.
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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