Environmental groups on Wednesday called on the government to tighten regulations governing companies that use of lot of energy to ensure they operate in a more environmentally friendly way.
Taiwan Renewable Energy Alliance founder Kao Ju-ping (高茹萍) told a news conference in Taipei that the regulations governing high-energy-use companies are not tough enough to force them to increase the renewable energy portion in their usage or become more energy efficient.
Kao called for a shorter period — three rather than five years — to be allotted to such companies to fulfill their renewable energy obligations and for fines if they fail to do so.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The threshold at which a company is considered “energy heavy” should be lowered to 800kW from 5,000kW, and government agencies, schools and transportation should not be exempted, she said.
Kao was referring to the
Regulations for the Management of Setting up Renewable Energy Power Generation Equipment of Power Users above a Certain Contract Capacity (一定契約容量以上之電力用戶應設置再生能源發電設備管理辦法), legislation that was approved in 2021 as part of the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例), which requires companies that use 5,000kW or more to meet renewable energy goals within five years.
The regulations cover about 300 high-energy-use companies, Energy Administration data showed.
Those companies can fulfill their obligations in one of four ways: installing renewable energy generation equipment, purchasing renewable energy or renewable energy certificates, installing energy storage facilities or paying fees, labeled a “monetary substitution.”
Citing the country’s net zero goal, Kao said that the rule that 10 percent of a company’s energy production capacity needs to be covered by one of the four options should be increased to 20 percent by 2030, 30 percent by 2040 and 50 percent by 2050.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Chris Hsu (徐祥誠) said that Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Lee Chun-li (李君禮) in April promised that a review report would be released this year, but it was “very likely the promise would not be kept.”
The government has also not made public whether companies are progressing toward meeting the regulations, Hsu said.
Energy Administration Renewables and Prospective Energy Development Division head Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said that the agency is scheduled to publish a report next quarter.
The exclusion of some entities, including hospitals and research institutions, was because they serve the public interest, but the inclusion of other government agencies and schools would be considered in the review, Chen said.
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