The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced wholesale rates for the renewable energy yesterday, with the tariffs expected to take effect in one week.
The private sector is being encouraged to deploy new equipment to produce renewable energy such as wind power or solar power as the nation seeks to reduce dependence on coal and natural gas and cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Companies could then sell the energy to state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) over the next 20 years at NT$11.1 to NT$12.9 per kilowatt-hour for solar power generators, NT$5.2 per kilowatt-hour for geothermal energy and NT$4.3 per kilowatt-hour for wind power, among a number of other options.
ABSORBING COSTS
While the government has no plans to increase utility rates for households next year, consumers are expected to play their part in absorbing the costs of alternative energy, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said at a year-end press gathering on Tuesday.
Consumers will be expected to pay an average NT$3.5, or 0.4 percent, more every month in electricity fees starting in February, the ministry said.
Wholesale rates for electricity generated by alternative energy are higher than those for ordinary fossil fuels, so the government is encouraging company generation of renewable energy through the sales to Taipower, it said.
The Act Governing Development of Renewable Energy (再生能源發展條例) passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan on June 12.
SUPPORT
The ministry yesterday cited a recent survey showing support for the government’s alternative energy policy.
In the ministry-commissioned poll conducted by Shih Hsin University, 89 percent of respondents said they supported the policy, despite the extra cost. As much as 80 percent supported the “pay-per-use” charging mechanism.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they supported the policy as long as their electricity bills didn’t rise by more than NT$15 a month, while 60 percent said a rise of NT$30 per month would be acceptable.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales