Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/30
By: Liao Yu-yang and Shih Hsiu-chuan
Taipei, Jan. 30 (CNA) Taiwan on Wednesday reduced the feed-in tariff (FIT) rate for
Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) / CNA file photo
offshore wind power generation this year to NT$5.516 (US$0.179) per kilowatt hour (kWh), backing off from a proposed deeper cut that had drawn the ire of wind power developers.
The new FIT rate for offshore wind projects that sign power purchasing agreements with state-owned utility Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) represents a 5.71 percent reduction from the 2018 rate of NT$5.8498 per unit, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).
In November last year, the MOEA’s Bureau of Energy proposed lowering the FIT rate for 2019 by 12.71 percent to NT$5.106 per kWh, which angered foreign contractors who felt the government had reneged on promises of a rate close to NT$6 per kWh.
Unhappy with the proposal, wind farm developers including Yushan Energy, Northland Power, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and WPD Taiwan Energy Co. released a statement the next day saying that the proposed rate represented a sharp policy U-turn by Taiwan’s government. [FULL STORY]
