The Status of Solar Energy Development in Taiwan

摘要

In this paper the manufacture and application of solar energy devices in Taiwan are summarized.A favorable impetus in some of this solar development has been Taiwan's interest in minimizing carbon emissions.Manufacture of solar photovoltaic(PV)devices has had a relatively recent start compared to some countries.However,this has shown amazing growth in a very short period of time such that this country is now the second largest producer of cells in the world.Almost all of these units have been for export.An important impediment to the use of PV systems on the island has been quite inexpensive conventional power prices.These are so low that the government owned major utility has been losing money on its generation.Another factor that has been a hindrance to the widespread installation of systems is that the island is land constrained.Also many of its buildings are not ideal for the installation of systems.Solar domestic water heating has also been applied in quite a limited extent,and the production has not been at a high level.The magnitude of the solar resource is summarized in this paper,and an overview of the current efforts by the national government to encourage the use of solar systems is described.Some possible implications for Taiwan in light of the recent trade sanctions imposed on China by Western countries are discussed.