Taiwan: Providing More Incentives for Investment, Evaluation of Feed-in Tariff and Calculation Formula for Renewable Energy was Completed
Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) convened the third evaluation meeting of “2016 Feed-in Tariff for Renewable Energy” which was hosted by Vice Minister of MOEA, Mr. Jong-Chin Shen. The representatives from industrial associations and businesses were invited to express their opinions on “Public Hearing of 2016 Feed-in Tariff and Calculation Formula for Renewable Energy” organized on October 23, 2015. At the end, the evaluation of “2016 Feed-in Tariff and Calculation Formula for Renewable Energy” was completed. MOEA will then make announcement according to the “Administrative Procedure Act.”
In order to expound “2016 Feed-in Tariff and Calculation Formula for Renewable Energy” to the public, after the discussion at the third evaluation meeting, the adjustment in the feed-in tariffs for photovoltaics (PV) and offshore wind power and relevant incentive measures were made.
For PV power, as suggested by the enterprises, the targeted installed capacity was expanded to 500MW, the trend of price change in the international modules has been observed. After the full discussion with evaluation committee members, the decision was made that the tariff adjustment will not follow the percentage of decline in international costs of installation (the exchange rate adjustment was considered.) A 5.6% increase in feed-in tariff than that was announced at the public hearing was finalized. Additionally, considering the interval of two months required for the application of construction permit for the power industry, for those who are awarded with bids between September and December each year and fall under the category of Type 1 or 2 power generation equipment, are eligible to apply for the maximum tariff if the construction project can be completed within six months since the application record was agreed. Furthermore, in order to encourage the PV installation in Northern part of Taiwan, an increase in markup from the original 5% to 12.5% was announced, and Miaoli was included in the award areas.
For offshore wind power, considering the installation and operation of domestic offshore wind power demonstration projects are not completed yet, policies will be incorporated to encourage the investment and development of businesses, and 2016 feed-in tariff for offshore wind power will not decrease according to the calculation result and will remain at the same level of 2015 feed-in tariff.In terms of the incentive measures to encourage the wind power generation more than 20kW on the land, considering the two years interval to install wind turbines, the award period was extended from 2020 to 2022. Thus, the markup since the date of construction completion until 2022 will be 3.6%, but the markup will only last for five years at most.
Other incentive measures, such as the 15% mark up in outlying islands feed-in-tariff, wind turbines which can be in accordance with “The Reward Regulations for Small Wind Turbine Power Generation System Demonstration” applying to the tariff of land wind turbines (1-20 kW), 5-year tariff review for the land wind turbines (over 20 kW) mechanisms, and the mechanism of gradual feed-in tariff of offshore wind power, will still be implemented throughout 2016.For the tariff stability, the calculation of the average cost (the minimum tariff) of domestic power generation of petrochemical fuels will adopt the formula used before at the fixed four-year average. The tariff remained at NTD2.7174/kWh which was suggested at 2016 public hearing.
MOEA emphasized that the calculation formula of 2016 feed-in tariff for renewable energy adopts parameters based on information of actual market transactions or numbers with reliable proofs so as the fair and reasonable tariff standard can be achieved. Thus, the sufficient incentives are provided for making the investment. In the future, MOEA will handle relevant issues of the feed-in tariff for renewable energy with serious attitude to lay a good foundation for the development of Taiwan’s renewable energy industry.
