Taiwan maps out plans for $59b in renewable-energy finance

Will it hit its ambitious renewables target?

Bloomberg reported that Prime Minister Lin Chuan’s administration aims to increase the share of renewable energy such as water, wind and solar to 20 percent of total power output on the island by 2025, up from 5 percent currently. The Taiwan government hopes to attract NT$1.8 trillion ($59 billion) of private capital.

Developing funding channels will be critical, given the ambitious target. Bloomberg New Energy Finance, in a September assessment, said that Taiwan might only raise the share of renewable energy in electricity generation to 9.5 percent by 2025, in part because of the lack of a developed supply chain for the new sources of power.

Among the challenging targets for 2025 set by the island’s government are: Lower thermal coal’s share in electricity production to 30 percent from 45 percent; Eliminate nuclear power, which currently accounts for 14 percent; Raise the share of natural gas to 50 percent from 32 percent.

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