Editorial

Building a green mecca

(CNA)

• Publication Date：07/14/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today

About 50 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan proper in Penghu County, a green energy revolution is taking place. The windswept archipelago of 64 low-lying islets, long renowned for its winding coastlines, plentiful seafood and scorching sun is being transformed into a mecca of renewable power production which once completed, will serve as a model for similar developments throughout the region and rest of the world.

The ROC government drive to establish Penghu as a sustainable energy incubator is not a new idea. After President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, he prioritized the drafting of requisite legislation and subsidy schemes, ensuring they were quickly in place so as to help build Taiwan’s green power future-in-progress.

Case in point is the recent announcement by the Ministry of Economic Affairs that by the end of this month, the number of charging stations for electric scooters in Penghu is set to increase 150 percent. The initiative, which is part of a seven-year, NT$9.7 billion (US$323.1 million) plan to promote Taiwan’s electric vehicle sector, will see the construction of 330 stations in 27 locations, bringing the respective total countywide to 551 and 73.

Supplementary support for the initiative includes a central government subsidy of NT$7,200 or NT$10,000 for electric scooter purchases. The MOEA is also playing its part with NT$17,000 or NT$24,000 payments for Penghu-only units until 2013, limited to a maximum of 2,000 per year.

(Courtesy of MOEA)

Although the MOEA subsidies only began last year, as of June 17 the number of electric scooters in Penghu surged 44 percent from 678 to 987. These units are expected to cut the county’s annual carbon emissions by 2,691 tons, and become an attraction for ecotourists.

But there is more to Penghu’s green revolution than electric scooters. Since June last year, a public-private sector green-energy venture has been at the forefront of efforts to turn the county into a hotbed of wind power production.
The venture calls for 56 percent of Penghu’s energy needs to be derived from renewable sources. Wind farms capable of generating 96 MW per year are to be constructed by 2015, with plans to boost this to 124 MW in the pipeline. In addition, offshore generating facilities may be built if demand rises.

When it comes to building Taiwan’s sustainable green energy future, necessity is the mother of invention and the father is a willingness to do more than just pay lip service to achieving this goal. For the central government, such an idea is the driving force behind its policy of transforming Penghu into a mecca of renewable power production and sparking a green energy revolution.

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