A NEW DOMESTIC FOCUS ON RENEWABLES POLICY

摘要

The island state of Taiwan sees renewables as an important route to greater security of supply than is possible through its current heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels.Security and independence are live issues for many reasons in Taiwan, which is still the subject of a long-standing sovereignty claim from its giant neighbour China, even though relations between the two have improved and trade links are healthy - not least in the area of solar equipment.After a delay of some eight years, in June 2009 Taiwan finally passed its Renewable Energy Development Act (REDA), the key legislative framework that it hopes will kick-start a boom in renewable development in the nation of 23 million people. The act consists of a familiar mixture of obligations and incentives that are designed to achieve a 16% share of installed capacity for renewables by 2025 against an estimated 8% (dominated by hydropower) in 2010, according to figures from Taiwan's Bureau of Energy (BoE), part of its Ministry of Economic Affairs.