Offshore wind energy companies yesterday said that they want the Changhua County Government to oversee the distribution of an incentive program for utilities projects, as the clock runs out for them to sign power purchase contracts before a price cut takes effect on Thursday.
The companies — Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Orsted A/S, Northland Power Inc and Yushan Energy Co (玉山能源), and China Steel Corp (中鋼) — said in a joint statement that they unanimously agreed to give the county government full oversight in allocating incentive funds among local fishers’ associations and township agencies.
The county government is the final hurdle before offshore wind energy companies can get the green light to begin construction on six projects in the area, while resistance has been building since the victory of newly elected Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美).
The county’s approval is needed before offshore wind developers can gain the required permits and finalize a purchasing price with state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電).
While the county government has not clearly defined its concerns, local Chinese-language media have reported grumbling over vague promises to local fishers about incentives.
Tax revenue over the life cycle of wind power projects in the area would total more than NT$100 billion (US$3.25 billion), the majority of which would go to the local government, the developers said.
The firms said they would apply for business registration certificates in Changhua County as projects were completed so that they could be added to the local tax base, adding that the Orsted and CIP projects would go online in 2021.
The projects have been greatly affected by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ decision to cut the feed-in tariff (FIT) rate from NT$5.8498 per kilowatt hour to NT$5.106 for the next 20 years, they said.
Pundits have claimed that the FIT cut could save Taiwan more than NT$120 billion in procurement costs, but the nation stands to lose much more if projects become infeasible and must be scaled back, they said, adding that it would also put ongoing partnerships with Taiwanese suppliers at risk.
Potential opportunities from offshore wind power projects include the creation of a renewable energy industry, as well as orders and jobs from a new local supply chain, which could also boost the wider services sector, creating new revenue streams from project operations and upkeep, they said.
The firms said they stand behind Wang’s policies and securing the FIT rate before it is cut tomorrow would make them better equipped to help the county develop.
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained