Taiwanese government proposes solar tariffs of US$0.13-0.19/kWh

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Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy has unveiled a draft feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme for solar installations to apply from next year after previously announcing its intent to reduce renewable energy incentives.

The new FITs will range from NT$3.9408-5.7788/kWh (US$0.13-0.19), with the highest tariff applied to residential solar systems with a generation capacity no larger than 20 kW, the government said. That highest tariff will mark a reduction of only 0.34% from the current payment. The NT$3.9408 FIT will presumably – in the absence of specifics given out by the bureau – be paid to large scale solar projects. If so, that would represent a reduction of 2.2%.

The Bureau of Energy is planning to grant a 3% tariff increase to PV projects built under the “Green Energy Roof” scheme implemented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, a 6% increase to installations that will rely on high-efficiency modules, and a 15% bonus to PV projects built in the counties of Miaoli, Hualien and Yilan and on remote islands.

Short deadline

The new scheme is expected to be approved by the end of the month, said the Taiwanese government.

Last year Taiwan became a gigawatt solar market for the first time, according to local market research company TrendForce. However in April, the analyst warned this year could be a difficult one for solar in Taiwan, due to the FIT cuts being planned by the government.

In September, Taiwanese prime minister Su Tseng-chang said the government expects around 3.7 GW of new solar generation capacity before 2021. “The plan calls for increasing solar energy’s contribution to the nation’s generating capacity to 6.5 GW by 2020,” Su said in an official statement.

The government said Taiwan had 2.8 GW of installed solar capacity at the end of last year. The authorities are planning for 1.5 GW of new solar to be deployed this year and 2.2 GW in 2020.

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