The Cabinet has relaxed regulations governing the financial sector to encourage investment in “green” energy development, Premier William Lai (賴清德) told a forum on energy trends in Taipei on Tuesday.
Taiwanese insurance companies have invested about NT$5.35 billion (US$178.3 million) in the renewable energy sector, while financial entities are expected to invest up to NT$1.5 trillion after the Cabinet eased the regulations in the Banking Act (銀行法) earlier this month, Lai said.
The government aims to produce 3 gigawatts of electricity from solar energy by 2020 through a policy encouraging the installation of solar panels on household rooftops, he said.
Profits from electricity sold to Taiwan Power Co would be distributed among local governments and people participating in the project, he said, adding that households would receive between 10 and 20 percent of the revenue, while local governments would receive 3 percent.
If solar panels are added to illegal structures, local governments would be responsible for examining whether the installations are safe, Lai said.
“This does not mean that local governments would legalize illegal structures,” Lai said, without expanding.
The nation is less experienced in the development of wind energy, but local companies can learn from European energy developers that have invested in the nation’s wind energy sector, Lai said.
The Bureau of Energy is optimistic about the development of offshore wind energy, considering that projects with a capacity of more than 10 gigawatts are pending environmental impact assessments, bureau Deputy Director-General Lee Chun-li (李君禮) said.
Initially, the bureau planned to have 3 gigawatts of electricity generated from offshore wind farms by 2025, but upon seeing the many projects awaiting review, it has increased the capacity forecast to 4.2 gigawatts, Lee added.
However, during past environmental impact assessments, many offshore wind farm sites were found to overlap with shipping lanes or the habitat of Taiwanese humpback dolphins off the west coast, leading to the committee criticizing the bureau for not providing developers with thorough background information.
“The issue of shipping lanes is not the business of the Environmental Protection Administration,” which is supposed to deal with environmental issues, Lee said when asked to comment on the criticism.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
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