More than 13,000 people have signed up for this year’s “green” power purchase program launched by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, exceeding the goal of 10,000, the ministry said on Saturday.
As of Thursday, a total of 13,251 institutional and individual customers had signed up for the program, surpassing the more than 7,000 who did so last year, when the goal was 4,000 subscriptions.
State-owned refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) has been the largest contributor to the program so far this year, pledging to purchase 8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of “green” energy, the ministry said.
Next in line are Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) at 6 million kWh, and integrated circuit packaging and testing firm Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光) at 4.5 million kWh, it said.
In July 2014, the ministry launched the program to encourage companies and individuals to purchase “green” power in a bid to promote renewable energy and environmental protection.
Under the program, companies or individuals agree to purchase a certain amount of electricity generated by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) using renewable sources at a premium of NT$1.06 per kWh over regular electricity prices.
The amount of “green” energy they subscribe to is then deducted from the power they use over the course of the year.
Proceeds from the program go to a renewable energy fund to support renewable energy applications, such as feed-in tariff subsidies.
The ministry said 2,994 institutions and 10,257 individuals have signed up for almost 86 million kWh of “green” power so far this year, well below the 1.31 billion kWh available.
Twenty-four institutional buyers have agreed to purchase more than 1 million kWh each, it said.
They include Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大, 3.36 million kWh), I-Mei Foods Co (義美食品, 3 million kWh), Taiwan’s largest steelmaker, China Steel Corp (中鋼, 3 million kWh), and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維, 3 million kWh), the ministry said.
Of the individual buyers who agreed to be identified, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) was the largest buyer, subscribing to 10,000kWh, the ministry said.
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,台積電), which has traditionally been the program’s biggest participant, has yet to sign up this year.
Last year, TSMC bought 200 million kWh, after purchasing 100 million kWh in 2015.
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
DOMESTIC COMPONENT: Huang identified several Taiwanese partners to be a key part of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin supply chain, including Asustek, Hon Hai and Wistron Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), addressing crowds at the company’s biggest annual event, unveiled a variety of new products while predicting that its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) processors would help generate US$1 trillion in sales through next year. During a two-and-a-half-hour keynote address, Huang announced plans to push deeper into central processing units (CPUs) — Intel Corp’s home turf — and introduced semiconductors made with technology acquired from start-up Groq Inc. The company even said it was developing chips for data centers in outer space. At the heart of Huang’s speech was the message that demand for computing power
RSS