A government program to promote solar panel deployment on farmland and fish farms has overlooked its environmental and economic costs on local communities, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan said yesterday.
The group’s comments came a month after the government unveiled proposed guidelines for the use of land for electricity generation as part of the policy’s public consultation period concluding next week.
The solar power industry has a myriad of external costs that must be controlled, including predatory behavior of energy contractors and potentially negative impact on the local landscape, environment and livelihood, said Tai Hsing-sheng (戴興盛), a natural resources and environmental studies professor at National Dong Hwa University.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ photovoltaic installation projects often failed to factor in these costs to the detriment of the environment, the regional economy and the livelihoods of farmers and aquaculturists, he said.
The ministry should lean into the potential for solar power generation to be distributed across the grid by encouraging social acceptance of the technology, not fixating on specific areas, Tai said.
The quality of solar power projects should take precedence over quantity, he said.
The government has no formal mechanism for discussing solar energy projects with the local communities they would affect, a shortcoming that must be addressed to protect the public’s right to participate in policymaking, he said.
The ministry’s guidelines stipulate that photovoltaic facilities must be at least 1,000m2 — far larger than the 300m2 recommended by environmental groups, Citizen of the Earth member Cheng Tai-chin (鄭泰鈞) said.
The economics ministry should pay more attention to encouraging the installation of rooftop solar panels, a policy it could pursue by cooperating with the Ministry of the Interior, he said.
The absence of a clear energy policy vision has compromised the public trust that is crucial for promoting solar power, group member Huang Tzu-yun (黃子芸) said.
The Energy Administration should create an online platform on energy policy to give the public the information it needs to make informed decisions on solar power, she said.
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