Renewables to replace capacity gap left by nuclear phaseout in Taiwan

Taiwan has a 9.3GW renewables capacity as of 2021.

Renewable energy resources are expected to fill in the capacity gap that will be left by the phaseout of nuclear power in Taiwan in 2025, according to GlobalData.

In a statement, GlobalData said total renewables capacity in Taiwan grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19%, reaching 9.31 gigawatts (GW) in 2021 from 1.38GW in 2010. It added that Taiwan’s renewable capacity will grow at a CAGR of 14.7% to reach 63.7GW in 2035.

Attaurrahman Ojindaram Saibasan, power analyst at GlobalData, said Taiwan, which plans to create a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025, is currently operating two nuclear plants for power generation.

The analyst added that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has rejected life extensions of the nuclear power plants, whose licences will end in May 2025.

“The government has been actively encouraging the use of renewable sources for energy generation to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. To support the development of renewable energy, the government passed the Renewable Energy Development Act in 2009 (further amended in 2019) which set a target of 27 GW of installed capacity coming from renewables by 2025,” Saibasan said.

“Solar PV and offshore wind are expected to constitute most of the installed renewable capacity by 2035,” the analyst added.

GlobalData added that there are no uranium deposits in Taiwan, making it dependent on imports to run a major portion of its power generation portfolio aside from low fossil fuel reserves, citing its Taiwan Power Market Size, Trends, Regulations, Competitive Landscape and Forecast, 2022-2035 report.

It added that the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan made Taiwan rethink its nuclear power program.

The data and analytics firm said this led Taiwan to place one of its upcoming nuclear reactors on standby and postpone the construction of the other indefinitely.

“Existing reactors are set to be decommissioned after their useful life is over. Taiwan intends to fill the gap created by the retirement of its nuclear power plants with renewable power capacity,” it said.