Accompanied by environmentalists, a German company specializing in wind power technology lashed out at the government yesterday for its reluctance to develop wind power projects in Taiwan.
The comments, made at a press conference held at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, followed the recent suspension of a NT$12.2 billion investment proposed by the company, InfraVest GmbH, a German firm established in 1996.
Last month, the Energy Commission (EC, 能源會) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) returned a proposal by InfraVest to build wind power generators, with a total of 300 megawatts in capacity, in coastal areas of Taoyuan, Taichung and Miaoli counties as well as Taichung City.
Representatives of InfraVest said that the EC had made excessive demands by asking for more official documents as proof of the availability of coastal land and of Taiwan Power Co.'s (Taipower, 台電) agreement to buy electricity generated by wind power and of the latter's agreement to share the electricity grid or to assist wind power developers to build their own.
In addition, InfraVest repre-sentatives said, EC officials had explained the suspension to them by saying that Taiwan did not need such a large amount of electricity generated from wind power.
According to existing energy policy, only 500 megawatts of electricity in Taiwan will be generated from wind power in 2010.
InfraVest said that several local governments they had contacted had expressed an eagerness to accept the investment project, which would be funded with foreign capital.
"If the Taiwan government wants to appeal to foreign investors, why are some officials in central government so reluctant to approve a friendly foreign investment project like ours?" said Wang Yun-I (
Wang said that it was an excellent opportunity for Taiwan to develop a wind energy industry which, she said, would be a promising one in the next two to three decades.
"Even China, a country that most Taiwanese regard as less developed, has been aware of the importance of supporting diverse sources of renewable energy, including wind power," Wang said.
Since 1999, InfraVest has successfully carried out 10 wind power generation investment projects, with a total of 200 megawatts in capacity, in China. Two out of the 10 wind power generating plants on China's east coast are already operational.
Wang said that InfraVest, as well as other western wind power companies, would still make efforts to occupy the attractive wind power market in China because the Chinese government has planned for at least five percent of the electricity supply of each province to come from wind energy by 2010.
"The European experience has taught us that the cost of such clean energy, about US$0.07 (NT$ 2.50), is almost equal to that of nuclear energy," Wang said, adding that the cost of wind power generation was comparable to that by nuclear plants, thermal plants and others.
Environmentalists said that the suspension of the InfraVest investment project could be blamed on conservative officials, who stick to outdated energy policies.
"The Taiwan government's attitude toward developing renewable energy is far less progressive than those of other developed countries," said Cheng Hsien-yu (
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