Taiwan builds huge solar plant
Solar capacity will be doubled as emphasis put on renewable sources
Taipei: Taiwan Power Company expects to complete the island's biggest solar plant by the end of August next year, doubling the state-run utility's capacity to produce electricity from sunlight.
The 4.6-megawatt plant will boost Taiwan Power's installed solar capacity to more than 9 megawatts, Chief Engineer Tu Yueh- yuan said by telephone in Taipei yesterday.
One megawatt is enough to power 800 US homes.
Sun power
Taiwan is joining countries including the US and Spain to tap renewable sources of energy to help cut carbon emissions.
The 60-megawatt Olmedilla plant in Spain is the world's biggest photovoltaic power station, according to pvresources.com, a website on solar technologies and applications. Fortune Electric Company is building the plant in the southern Kaohsiung county at a cost of NT$649 million (Dh73.4 million) while Suntech Power Holdings Company will supply the solar panels, Tu said.
To spur renewable energy use, Taiwan's government set minimum wholesale prices in December for electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines at levels higher than for power from fossil fuels.
Lawmakers approved last June the Renewable Energy Development Act, designed to help cut carbon emissions and reduce dependence on imports, according to the Bureau of Energy. Taiwan relies on overseas shipments for about 99 per cent of its energy needs.
