The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced wholesale rates for the renewable energy yesterday, with the tariffs expected to take effect in one week.
The private sector is being encouraged to deploy new equipment to produce renewable energy such as wind power or solar power as the nation seeks to reduce dependence on coal and natural gas and cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Companies could then sell the energy to state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) over the next 20 years at NT$11.1 to NT$12.9 per kilowatt-hour for solar power generators, NT$5.2 per kilowatt-hour for geothermal energy and NT$4.3 per kilowatt-hour for wind power, among a number of other options.
ABSORBING COSTS
While the government has no plans to increase utility rates for households next year, consumers are expected to play their part in absorbing the costs of alternative energy, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said at a year-end press gathering on Tuesday.
Consumers will be expected to pay an average NT$3.5, or 0.4 percent, more every month in electricity fees starting in February, the ministry said.
Wholesale rates for electricity generated by alternative energy are higher than those for ordinary fossil fuels, so the government is encouraging company generation of renewable energy through the sales to Taipower, it said.
The Act Governing Development of Renewable Energy (再生能源發展條例) passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan on June 12.
SUPPORT
The ministry yesterday cited a recent survey showing support for the government’s alternative energy policy.
In the ministry-commissioned poll conducted by Shih Hsin University, 89 percent of respondents said they supported the policy, despite the extra cost. As much as 80 percent supported the “pay-per-use” charging mechanism.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they supported the policy as long as their electricity bills didn’t rise by more than NT$15 a month, while 60 percent said a rise of NT$30 per month would be acceptable.
In a small town in Paraguay, a showdown is brewing between traditional producers of yerba mate, a bitter herbal tea popular across South America, and miners of a shinier treasure: gold. A rush for the precious metal is pitting mate growers and indigenous groups against the expanding operations of small-scale miners who, until recently, were their neighbors, not nemeses. “They [the miners] have destroyed everything... The canals, springs, swamps,” said Vidal Britez, president of the Yerba Mate Producers’ Association of the town of Paso Yobai, about 210km east of capital Asuncion. “You can see the pollution from the dead fish.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
SELL-OFF: Investors expect tariff-driven volatility as the local boarse reopens today, while analysts say government support and solid fundamentals would steady sentiment Local investors are bracing for a sharp market downturn today as the nation’s financial markets resume trading following a two-day closure for national holidays before the weekend, with sentiment rattled by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement. Trump’s unveiling of new “reciprocal tariffs” on Wednesday triggered a sell-off in global markets, with the FTSE Taiwan Index Futures — a benchmark for Taiwanese equities traded in Singapore — tumbling 9.2 percent over the past two sessions. Meanwhile, the American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the TAIEX, plunged 13.8 percent in
A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record. The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit. Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively. TSMC's
RSS