Taiwanese companies are struggling to procure renewable energy domestically, as the grid is not meeting demand in terms of supply and access, meaning the nation would likely fall short of its renewable energy goals for 2025, the RE100 global initiative said in a report.
The report, titled “Taiwan Energy Market Briefing: Net-Zero Plan and Aggregated PPAs,” was released on Wednesday with the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan. It was sponsored by Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控), Grape King Bio Ltd (葡萄王), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南金控), Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and PwC Taiwan (資誠聯合會計師事務所).
Demand for renewable energy has increased in the past few years, as RE100 members progress toward their targets, the report said.
Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times
More Taiwanese companies have committed to using renewable energy, while heavy power consumers are being pushed through legislation to use more green energy, it said.
RE100 is a global initiative bringing together influential businesses devoted to using 100 percent renewable electricity at their facilities.
However, high costs and low supply remain the two biggest reasons for a lack of corporately sourced renewable energy in Taiwan, compared with two years ago when high costs, low supply and lack of market transparency were identified as the main barriers, the report said.
Bundled renewable energy certificates are expensive in Taiwan and corporate power purchase agreements are costly, as they require that buyers be large electricity consumers and sign 10 to 20-year contracts, it said.
That makes purchasing bundled renewable energy certificates economically not feasible, while corporate power purchase agreements are limited to a few companies that meet the requirements, it added.
The rules make most RE100 members with operations in Taiwan unable to pass the criteria, the report said.
One possible solution is an aggregated power purchase agreement (APPA) that would bring together two or more companies to negotiate and purchase renewable energy, it said.
By doing so, developers and purchasers would benefit from economies of scale, the report said, adding that corporations and stakeholders seem eager to join forces to overcome barriers that appear significant.
Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said that while APPAs would not necessarily reduce electricity costs and could involve longer contract periods, they might allow partner companies to achieve economies of scale.
He said he would ask the Bureau of Energy to look into the suggestion and brief him.
Government figures showed that renewable energy accounted for 6.3 percent of Taiwan’s total power supply last year, a slight increase from 5.8 percent in 2020, the report said.
While the government had previously committed to increasing the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources to 20 percent by 2025, the report estimated that this goal was unlikely to be reached until 2026 or 2027.
Additional reporting by CNA
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
RSS