Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) expects to complete the nation’s biggest solar plant by the end of August next year, doubling the state-run utility’s capacity to produce electricity from sunlight.
The 4.6-megawatt plant will boost Taipower’s installed solar capacity to more than 9 megawatts, chief engineer Tu Yueh-yuan (杜悅元) said yesterday. One megawatt is enough to power 800 US homes.
Taiwan is seeking to tap renewable sources of energy to help cut carbon emissions.
Fortune Electric Co (華城電機) is building the plant in Kaohsiung County at a cost of NT$649 million (US$20 million), while Suntech Power Holdings Co (尚德太陽能) will supply the solar panels, Tu said.
To spur renewable energy use, the government set minimum wholesale prices in December for electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines at levels higher than for power from fossil fuels.
In June lawmakers approved the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例), designed to help cut carbon emissions and reduce dependence on imports, according to the Bureau of Energy.
Taiwan relies on overseas shipments for about 99 percent of its energy needs.
“We’ll continue to build solar plants,” Tu said, without giving details.
The government owns 97 percent of Taipower, which generates about 75 percent of the electricity the nation uses.
Suntech Power, based in Jiangsu, China, is the world’s largest maker of polysilicon solar-power modules.
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