Price of renewable energy should be left to market: economic official

Taipei, July 4 (CNA) Taiwan has enough green electricity for businesses that need it, but the market must set the price, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lien Ching-chang (連錦漳) said Thursday.

Lien made the remarks at a renewable energy procurement forum in Taipei, responding to concerns that the country does not have enough green energy to meet the demands of companies whose customers are demanding they go greener.

“A price lower than the cost of generating green energy is not reasonable,” he said, emphasizing that “there is no shortage of renewable energy as long as the price is reasonable.”

Another difficulty, Lien said, is people’s attitudes toward energy-generating facilities.

While Taiwan welcomes the construction of more data centers and research facilities, “people would prefer not to see similar green energy facilities in their area,” he said, commenting on recent disputes over technology companies’ plans to build data centers and R&D facilities in Taiwan.

Lien approached local authorities seeking technological investments to facilitate the construction of nearby power plants powered by green energy.

Meanwhile, the amount of green electricity sold is estimated to reach 10,000 gigawatt-hours per year in four years, Huang Chih-wen (黃志文), director of the National Renewable Energy Certification Center (T-REC), said during the forum.

Huang said the annual trade volume of green energy has increased from 250 gigawatt-hours in 2020 to 1,700 gigawatt-hours in 2023. “There is a high probability that it will reach 10,000 gigawatt-hours per year after 2028.”

Huang noted that as of June 2024, 78% of the 342 buyers were large enterprises.

He stressed that the ministry and the centre will help more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) acquire green energy.

Instead of entering into corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) with higher thresholds for credit assessment and financing options, SMEs will have access to various access points provided by the ministry to purchase green energy.

The programs include a matchmaking service launched in 2022 that allows public or state-owned enterprises to lease land to build solar plants and reserve 30% of the power generated for SMEs, as well as Taiwan Power Co. selling smaller amounts of green electricity through a bidding platform launched last year.

The latest planned initiative, Huang said, is to set up a government-backed electricity retail company that would source green energy and distribute it to small and medium-sized businesses that need it.