Robust infrastructure and a clear regulatory framework are the key elements in the nation’s efforts to develop offshore wind farms, foreign industry representatives said at a forum in Taipei on Wednesday.
Taiwan is moving fast to introduce offshore wind farms, said Martin Skiba, chairman of World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO), the first organization dedicated to fostering the global growth of offshore wind energy and the forum’s organizer.
As the sector is just emerging, there are challenges that need to be addressed, Skiba said.
Typical challenges are the inability to develop robust infrastructure, including reinforcement of onshore grid networks and harbor facilities to better install transmission lines, he said.
The biggest concern about investing in Taiwan is the need for a clear and detailed industry road map, Germany-based Innogy director of offshore investment and asset management Richard Sandford said.
While recognizing that Taiwan has set a goal of generating 5.5 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2025, Sandford said the related regulatory framework is not in place.
“You’ve got the target, which is great,” he said, adding that there are no details as yet about bidding on tariffs, for instance, including how often auctions would be held and how much generating capacity is to be auctioned.
“We don’t yet know the details of the rules,” he said. “Having clarity over the regulatory work would be very useful.”
WFO members have set a target of generating more than 500 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2050 worldwide, based on them adding a record total of 5 gigawatts last year.
Skiba said he is not sure what proportion Taiwan would contribute by then, but added that Asia is likely to produce between 300 and 350 gigawatts, making it the biggest market in the sector.
There are no Taiwanese companies directly involved in the WFO yet, but interested local companies in the offshore wind farm supply chain are welcome to join the group, he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
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