The Ministry of the Interior recently released a new draft of its rooftop solar panel mandate, exempting religious buildings and other structures from a requirement to install panels on all new structures and renovations more than 1,000m².
The draft exempts four types of buildings: religious and funeral buildings, those that house hazardous materials, buildings that receive insufficient sunlight and other cases with “special circumstances.”
The Legislative Yuan in 2023 passed amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例), stipulating that all new construction, reconstruction or expansions that meet certain conditions would be required to install rooftop solar panels.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
It required the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of the Interior to stipulate specific criteria.
The new draft says that all new buildings or renovations with an area of 1,000m² or larger must install a 1 kilowatt per 20m² solar panel system.
Panels may be installed on the rooftop, awnings or on the ground to meet the requirement.
While previous drafts stipulated the “rooftop area,” the new draft instead stipulates “building area,” an official from the National Land Management Agency said.
This means that the area requirement would effectively be based on the area of the first floor, which is typically larger than the rooftop, the official said.
There are four types of building exempt from this requirement.
First, religious and funeral buildings which have specific cultural and architectural value are exempt.
Second, buildings that deal with the manufacturing, packaging, sale or storage of hazardous materials are exempt, as installing solar panels could cause public safety concerns.
Third, if buildings cannot install solar panels due to special circumstances, they may be exempt if they provide sufficient supporting documents.
Fourth, buildings that do not receive sufficient sunlight to meet the power generation standard may be exempt if they provide a valid power generation assessment.
The annual power generation standard is 543 kilowatt hours (kWh) for Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, Miaoli County, Yilan County and Hualien County, 579 kWh for Taitung County and 625 kWh for all other municipalities and counties.
These standards are based on sunlight conditions in different regions and the effectiveness of solar panels, the official said.
If solar panels are not accordingly installed, construction and occupancy permits would not be issued, they added.
The Ministry of the Interior would complete a final revision of the mandate based on feedback received over the next 60 days.
The Executive Yuan would then decide the implementation date.
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