Local green energy developers and producers — including the nation’s biggest solar cell maker, Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) — yesterday urged the government to increase state subsidies for green energy industries, saying the government’s proposed rebates provide barely any incentive.
The complaints came in the wake of the Bureau of Energy unveiling a draft program last Friday to encourage clean energy use, including a formula to calculate rebates for energy developers and suppliers based on the Act Governing Development of Renewable Energy (再生能源發展條例) enacted about three months ago.
“We are stunned by the [proposed] subsidies. Not a single company can benefit [from the program],” said Huang Chin-cheng (黃進城), a board director at Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Association (台灣太陽能光電產業協會), in a public hearing arranged by the bureau.
Huang said the government needed to raise the rebate to between NT$15 and NT$18 per time of use (tou), from the proposed NT$8.12 to NT$9.33 per tou, to repurchase electricity for solar power providers.
South Korea offers rebates ranging from NT$15 to NT$47 per tou, he said, citing his study.
The government aims to encourage the use of clean energy, including solar and wind power, to reduce reliance on conventional power sources. More than 60 percent of the nation’s electricity needs are filled by coal-fired and gas-fired power stations; another 20 percent comes from nuclear power plants, the bureau said.
The bureau plans to hold another public hearing on Oct. 2 to gather more information before finalizing the subsidy program before the end of the year.
Huang’s criticism was part of massive opposition to the proposed green energy incentives program from 46 representatives from renewable energy developers during the public hearing.
“The subsidies are too low to give room for any [clean energy] company to make a profit,” Wang Chun-chang (王春長), a Motech representative, told the hearing.
“We don’t think the subsidy plan will be an incentive to green energy developers,” said Karl-Eugen Feifel, chairman of wind power developer InfraVest’s local unit.
While the government talks about fostering the nation’s solar industry, the “disappointing solar subsidy program is negative for Taiwanese solar companies and could also indicate that solar energy development may not be a leading priority for the Taiwanese government,” said Christine Wang, a HSBC Securities analyst, in a note to customers yesterday.
Earlier this year, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration said that green energy would be one of the six star industries that the government plans to nurture. The government plans to spend NT$25 billion (US$772.6 million) on renewable energy subsidies and installation.
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