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Thanks to cost reduction and government promotion, installation capacity of renewable energy topped 470,000 kilowatts in the first of 2018 in Taiwan, for 2.9 times of growth year-on-year, boosting the accumulated capacity to 5.75 million kilowatts as of the end of June, for 10.9% share. The star performer was PV power, whose capacity scored 3.4 times of growth.
The astounding growth came on the heels of robust expansion in the previous two years, as new capacities topped 400,000 and 530,000 kilowatts, respectively, in 2016 and 2017, up 48.4% and 34.%.
Situated in subtropical zone, Taiwan boasts abundant sunshine, with sunny days amounting to 1,800 hours a year. The government started to execute the "two-year PV power plan" in 2016, having installed 1.3 GW new PV power capacity by the end of June 2018, slightly short of the 1.52 GW target.
As a result, PV power has become the largest green energy in Taiwan, in terms of installation capacity, overtaking hydraulic power, with its accumulated capacity reaching 2.24 kilowatts as of the end of June, 38.9% of the total green-energy capacity, followed by hydraulic power with 2.09 million kilowatts, or 36.4%, wind power with 12.1%, waste-fired power with 10.9%, and biomass energy with 1.7%.
96% of PV power devices are meant for power generation for own use, mostly built under the auspices of the "extensive participation in rooftop green energy plan by local people," launched by the government in 2017. By contrast, hydraulic power is dominated by Taiwan Power Company, which also accounts for 43.3% of wind power, leaving 57% to private investors.
In order to increase green-power capacity to 27 GW by 2025 and materialize the "nuclear-free homeland" vision, the government has doubled its effort pushing green energy, notably PV power and offshore wind power, with the targets of 3 GW for rooftop PV power by 2020, 17 GW for ground-mounted PV power stations by 2025, and 5.5 GW for offshore wind power by 2025.
Offshore wind power projects have been settled, via selection in April and open bidding in June, with prospective investors, including local and foreign ones, having started talk with banks for syndicated loans and the process for obtaining construction permit.
Energytrend points out that with a complete legal framework gradually in place and government releasing more plots of land for use, more ground-mounted PV power station projects will break ground in coming years, with demand expected to reach 820-950 MW in 2017.
New renewable-energy capacities increased by 2.9 times year-on-year in 1st half of 2018
(First photo courtesy of Pixabay, written by Daisy Chuang)