A REVIEW OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN TAIWAN

With limited indigenous conventional energy resources, Taiwan imports over 97% of its energy supply from foreign countries, mostly from the Middle East. Developing independent renewables is thus of priority concern for the Taiwanese government. A medium subtropical island surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Taiwan has enormous potential to develop various renewables, such as solar energy, biomass energy, wind power, geothermal energy, hydropower, etc. According to the estimation, the total renewable energy reserve is about 194 GW, which equals to 4 times of national installed power capacity in 2015, e.g., 48.7 GW, so Taiwan has abundant renewable energy resources indeed. However, owing to the importance of conventional fossil energy in generating exceptionally cheap electricity, renewable energy has not yet fully developed in Taiwan, resulting from a lack of market’s competition. In 2016, after the new government came to power, the Bureau of Energy (BOE) Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) set up an active promotion goal for the renewable energies (RE) in Taiwan: the total RE power capacity will be 20% share of the national power installation capacity by 2025. In the meantime, the four inherent shortcomings—low energy density, high cost of power generation, instability of power supply, and current cost of renewable energy being still higher than that of fossil energy—have to be overcome first, before renewable energy is actually formed as a main component in national energy mix. The development of renewable energy not only contributes to the independence of energy supply, but also achieves the benefits of economic development and environmental protection. This study reviews the current status, achievements, polices and future plans in these areas for Taiwan