The National Renewable Energy Certification Center was launched April 21 in Taipei City by the Ministry of Economic Affairs as part of government efforts to accelerate the development of the green energy sector and transition toward a nuclear-free homeland.
Established under the MOEA’s Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, the center will provide power producers and distributors with renewable energy certificates verifying generation methods and sources. It will also certify related equipment and authenticate data on power generation levels.
The launch was attended by representatives of the Executive Yuan, Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration, Bureau of Energy under the MOEA, state-run Taiwan Power Co. as well as Japan’s Green Energy Certification Center and Netherlands-based nonprofit foundation International REC Standard.
According to the BSMI, the center will help bolster investment in Taiwan’s green energy industry by promoting the adoption of international-level certification and regulatory standards. The office will issue its first certificate in the second quarter of 2017 at the earliest, the bureau added.
BSMI Director-General Liu Ming-jong said the center will ensure transparency and credibility in Taiwan’s renewable power sector. With major global firms such as U.S. tech giants Apple Inc. and Google calling on suppliers to embrace green production processes, the office will also help bolster the international competitiveness of local manufacturers by providing verification of renewable energy usage, he added.
The center was launched in accordance with recent amendments to the Electricity Act. Promulgated in January, the new regulations aim to promote the establishment of a decentralized, localized and community-based energy market characterized by a thriving green power production sector.
Green energy is a central plank in the government’s five-plus-two innovative industries initiative, a comprehensive economic restructuring program also targeting biotech and pharmaceuticals, national defense, smart machinery and the Internet of Things, as well as the promotion of two core concepts: the circular economy and a new paradigm for agricultural development. The government’s goal is to raise the percentage of power generated from renewable resources to 20 percent and phase out the nation’s nuclear power plants by 2025. (KWS-E)
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