The government aims to boost the nation’s photovoltaics installed capacity to 6.5GW by the end of next year, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday.
The target was set for the second stage of the “two-year photovoltaic energy development plan,” with the first stage having concluded last year, Su said.
Photovoltaics play a vital role in the nation’s efforts to realize the goal of boosting the ratio of renewable energy in the nation’s energy mix to 20 percent by 2025.
If the target is reached, it would help to stabilize the nation’s energy supply, reduce its reliance on imported energy and spur industrial growth, Su said.
The government plans to achieve this goal by having large companies in industrial parks, science parks and export processing zones install solar panels on the roofs of their premises, Bureau of Energy Director Yu Chen-wei (游振偉) said.
It plans to collaborate with animal and fish farms to establish solar power generation facilities, as well as subsidize local governments’ policies to promote public and private photovoltaic power generation facilities, Yu said.
As of last year, the nation’s photovoltaic installed capacity reached 2.8GW, Yu said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs expects to add another 1.5GW by the end of this year and another 2.2GW next year, he said.
Quoting Su, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said it was “exhilarating” that the nation’s solar energy supply on Sept. 2 reached a record high of more than 2GW — equivalent to 5.8 percent of the nation’s total energy supply.
It also exceeded the energy supply of the two reactors at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) or the two units at the Ma-anshan (馬鞍山) Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, she quoted Su as saying, adding that the figure was a milestone in the development of photovoltaics.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said that the nation’s power consumption hit a record of 37.38 million kilowatt-hour on July 7.
Photovoltaics contributed a record 4.8 percent to overall power supply that day, he said.
The ministry is confident that the supply of solar energy would reach new highs next year, he said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
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