Legislators yesterday passed an amendment that would require some newly built, expanded or altered structures to install rooftop solar panels.
The amendment was one of several revisions to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例) that were approved after being proposed by the Cabinet and sent to the Legislative Yuan in December last year to increase renewable energy sources.
New buildings that meet a size threshold would be required to design and install a specified capacity of solar panels on the building, the amendments say.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Time
The building owners would be allowed to use the electricity generated or could sell it to state-run utility Taiwan Power Co or private entities, as stipulated by existing provisions in the act.
The amendments were reviewed along with other proposals by legislators, but the revisions passed were based on the versions proposed by the Cabinet.
The Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the construction industry, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs would finalize the details of the solar panel amendment, such as the size threshold for new buildings and the type of buildings included.
The minimum required solar power installation capacity in the revision would also be finalized, while standards for exposure to the sun and the date the revision is to take effect also need to be decided.
Other areas covered by the amendments were provisions related to offshore wind power, hydropower and geothermal energy sources.
As technological advancements have overcome obstacles such as deep water, the amendment related to offshore wind removes a provision that says offshore wind installations could “not go beyond territorial waters” to expand the range of deployment.
Another revision allows water storage facilities to be used for hydropower generation, and another defined the overseeing authority and application procedures for surveying geothermal power sources.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by