Taipei, May 4 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will plan to assign part of all green power generated in Taiwan to a retail market for small- and medium-sized enterprises, as the country pushes for net-zero carbon emission by 2050.
Speaking at the Taiwan Renewable Procurement Summit, Deputy Economics Minister Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said the MOEA would require both solar energy and offshore wind power producers to reserve a certain amount of their energy production for use by the retail market and sell to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Tseng made the remarks at a time when many companies coveting renewable energy sources have complained that contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, holds a near-monopoly on the procurement of all locally produced green energy.
Taiwan's renewable energy certificate
To promote the country's renewable energy development, the MOEA's Bureau of Standard, Metrology, and Inspection (BSMI) established the National Renewable Energy Certification Center in 2017 for green power transactions.
After issuing its first certificate in May 2017, the center has issued 1.26 million certificates to green power producers in Taiwan, enabling them to trade their power on a green energy transaction mechanism inaugurated in 2020, or retain the electricity for self-use.
The 1.26 million certificates were issued for the production of 1.26 billion kilowatt hours of electricity via renewable sources.
Of the 1.06 million certificates issued by the center as of mid-February, about 910,000 certificates have been traded on the transaction platform with TSMC purchasing almost 900,000 certificates, according to the BSMI.
Growing demand
Tseng said the COVID-19 pandemic had raised demand for renewable energy among enterprises in Taiwan.
He added that this demand had been driven by both the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and RE100, a global corporate renewable energy initiative to bring together hundreds of large and ambitious businesses committed to 100 percent renewable electricity.
In addition, more and more companies in Taiwan have experienced pressure from their clients rising to commit themselves to using green energy, Tseng said.
The deputy minister said that as large businesses appeared to have a stronger purchasing power in green power transactions, the supplies appeared uneven, leaving small- and medium-sized companies behind.
Policy change
As a result, he said the MOEA would now require green power producers, which rent spaces from the government for their electricity production, not to sell their electricity in a large amount to certain major enterprises but to sell to the retail market.
For instance, wind power developers are expected to reserve part of the anticipated 5 billion to 6 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity a year after 2025 for the retail market for small- and medium-sized enterprises, Tseng said.
In March, the National Development Council, the government's top economic planning agency, unveiled a road map for Taiwan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 by developing an economy that would either emit no greenhouse gases or offset its emissions.
To achieve the net-zero emissions goal, the government plans to spend almost NT$900 billion (US$30.51 billion) from this year until 2030. This financing is expected to create more business opportunities for the private sector to follow suit and invest in.
Sources: OCAC( The Overseas Community Affairs Council)
