Offshore wind energy companies yesterday clinched approvals from regulators, making strides in the race to secure favorable power purchase agreements with the government before the end of the year.
Following a coastal zone management review meeting, the Ministry of the Interior gave the green light to seven offshore wind project applications in Changhua County by Orsted A/S, Northland Power Inc, Yushan Energy Co (玉山能源), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and China Steel Corp (中鋼).
With only a little more than a week left in the year, companies have been scrambling to secure agreements at the current feed-in tariff of NT$5.8498 per kilowatt-hour after the government announced a proposal to cap the rate at NT$5.106 for the next 20 years.
While the approvals were the final regulatory hurdle to cross, the ministry said it would take two or three business days for it to conduct its final audits and checks to seal the deals.
The seven projects cover an area of 805km2 off the Changhua coast, of which 7.6 percent, or 61km2, is under the jurisdiction of the Coastal Zone Management Act (海岸管理法), the ministry said.
A panel found that the companies met government requirements to bring minimal disruptions to the environment and shipping lanes, the ministry said.
The firms have agreed to coordinate among themselves to keep underwater power lines and docks close to each other to minimize their footprint, it said.
In addition, the companies have agreed to employ third-party observers to monitor changes to the geology and ecosystem, as well as promising to provide compensation for seabed ecology restoration efforts and incentives to the local government, the ministry said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last