Taiwanese companies are struggling to source renewable energy domestically due to shortfalls in supply and access to the grid, which may hinder its efforts to achieve its 2025 renewable energy goals, the global initiative RE100 said in a report.
The report, titled “Taiwan Energy Market Briefing: Net-Zero Plan and Aggregated PPAs,” was released jointly with the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan on Wednesday.
The report mentions that the progress of RE100 members toward their targets has driven demand for renewable energy over the past few years.
While a growing number of Taiwanese companies have committed to renewable energy and legislation requires more renewable energy use for heavy power users, high costs and low supply have deterred businesses from using renewables, compared to an additional problem of lack of market transparency two years ago, the report said.
Both bundled renewable energy certificates and corporate power purchase agreements are costly in Taiwan, with the latter requiring buyers to be large electricity consumers and sign 10- to 20-year contracts, leaving few companies financially capable and eligible, it added.
Such barriers have prevented most RE100 members with operations in Taiwan from meeting the criteria.
The report suggests signing aggregated power purchase agreements (APPAs) as a solution that brings together multiple companies to negotiate and purchase renewable energy.
While APPAs may not necessarily reduce electricity costs and the contract periods may last longer, they might allow developers and purchasers to achieve economies of scale, said Vice Premier Shen Rongjin, who promised to ask the Bureau of Energy to look into the suggestion and report back.
Renewable energy accounted for 6.3% of Taiwan’s total electricity supply last year, up slightly from 5.8% in 2020, according to government figures.
Despite the government’s previous pledge to increase the share of renewable energy generation to 20% by 2025, the report estimated that this goal was unlikely to be reached until 2026 or 2027.
