Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has bought almost all green power produced and traded by certified enterprises in the country, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection said yesterday.
To promote renewable energy development, the bureau established the National Renewable Energy Certification Center in 2017.
The bureau issued its first certificate in May 2017 and as of this month, it had issued 1.06 million certificates to enterprise power producers, enabling them to trade their power on a green energy transaction mechanism, which was inaugurated in 2020, or retain the electricity for self-use.
The 1.06 million certificates were issued for the production of 1.06 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity via renewable sources, cutting carbon emissions by 534,000 tonnes, the bureau said.
About 910,000 certificates have been traded on the transaction platform as of this month, with TSMC purchasing almost 900,000 certificates.
As for the remaining 150,000 certificates, the green power produced was for self-use, with TSMC also securing more than 7,100 certificates for green power which it generated for its own use.
Local enterprises like TSMC are keen to utilize green power as they incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) concepts into their core business operations.
The platform has encouraged many enterprises in a wide range of industries, such as energy, electronics, financial and biotech, to produce green power to transact or for self-use, a move that should raise the amount of green power used to generate electricity, the bureau said.
Some commercial buildings have also started producing green power by installing solar panels on their roofs, it added.
In addition to its large purchase of green power in Taiwan, TSMC has sold “green bonds” on the local market.
Green bonds, promoted by Taiwan’s capital markets and financial authorities, are aimed at encouraging companies to act in an environmentally responsible way, with the proceeds going to eco-friendly projects, said the Taipei Exchange (TPEx), which runs the local bond market.
Data compiled by the TPEx showed that TSMC has issued five tranches of green bonds in Taiwan, with an outstanding value of NT$17.4 billion (US$624 million).
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