A REVIEW OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN TAIWAN

With limited indigenous conventional energy resources, Taiwan imports over 97% of its energy supply from foreign countries, mostly from the Middle East. Developing independent renewables is thus of priority concern for the Taiwanese government. A medium subtropical island surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Taiwan has enormous potential to develop various renewables, such as solar energy , biomass energy, wind power, geothermal energy, hydropower, etc. According to the estimation, the total renewable energy reserve is about 194 GW, which equals to 4 times of national installed power capacity in 2015, e.g., 48.7 GW, so Taiwan has abundant r enewable energy resources indeed. However, owing to the importance of conventional fossil energy in generating exceptionally cheap electricity, renewable energy has not yet fully developed in Taiwan, resulting from a lack of market’s competition. I n 20 16 , after the new government came to power, the Bureau of Energy (BOE) Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) set up an active promotion goal for the renewable energies (RE) in Taiwan: t he total RE power capacity will be 20 % share of the national power installati on capacity by 20 25 . In the meantime, the four inherent shortcomings ? low energy density, high cost of power generation, instability of power supply, and current cost of renewable energy being still higher than that of fossil energy ? have to be overcome firs t, before renewable energy is actually formed as a main component in national energy mix. The development of renewable energy not only contributes to the independence of energy supply, but also achieves the benefits of economic development and environmenta l protection. This study reviews the current status, achievements, polices and future plans in these areas for Taiwan