The legislature yesterday passed a suite of amendments that would require more stringent environmental impact assessments (EIA) to build solar facilities, as environmental groups and the photovoltaic industry warned against overcorrection.
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday said it aimed to elevate the legal status of solar panel EIA statutes through amendments, after regulations used by the Ministry of Environment failed to block environmentally harmful construction projects, such as the one covering 51 hectares along a hillside in Kaohsiung’s Dashu District (大樹).
The bills seek to tighten solar facility regulations by amending Article 5 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), Article 11 of the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例) and Article 5 of the Geology Act (地質法).
Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times
The solar energy industry yesterday in a statement called for sufficient communication, instead of rushing legislation, to ensure that green energy developments would not be hindered.
Environmental groups called for delaying the legislation, saying the application scope of proposed solar panel EIA criteria requires more nuanced discussions.
Proposed amendments to Article 5 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act state that EIA must be conducted for proposed solar panel projects on hillsides or floating solar panel projects if the projects have an installed capacity of 10,000 kilowatts (KW) or more, or a cumulative area of 5 hectares or more.
An EIA is required for proposed solar panel projects with an installed capacity of 40 megawatts or more, or with a cumulative area of 40 hectares or more, excluding rooftop solar panels, the amendment states.
The proposed amendment to the Act for the Development of Tourism states that ground-mounted and floating solar panels cannot be installed in national scenic areas, unless they occupy less than 1 hectare and have passed an EIA.
The proposed amendment to the Geology Act states that ground-mounted and floating solar panels cannot be installed in geologically sensitive areas, unless they occupy less than 1 hectare and have passed an EIA.
Citing another bill proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) in November last year, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said revising the Environmental Impact Assessment Act to stipulate that the five major types of floating solar panel projects — wetlands, ponds, fish farms, flood detention basins and reservoirs — must undergo an EIA would be more appropriate.
Chung criticized the TPP bill for being an improper mix, saying development behaviors and EIA issues should not be dealt with through the Act for the Development of Tourism — which governs recreational behaviors — and the Geology Act, which governs geological assessments.
Such legislation is “keyword index legislation” that might have many holes, Chung said.
Wang said solar panel EIA issues should be regulated at a higher legal status, as the ministry “could not properly handle the issues at all,” adding that the DPP should “move with the times” and support the TPP’s proposal.
TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the bill was proposed, because “people can no longer trust the DPP government’s supervision of solar facility developments."
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