ing solar panels as the government aims to reduce dependency on energy imports. The project, pending approval by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, will increase the state-run utility's capacity by 10 megawatts, or 71 times, by 2011, Yu Shang-hsiung, Taipower's development director, said by phone yesterday. Taipower's solar power capacity is currently 140 kilowatts, according to Yu.
Taiwan imports 98 percent of its energy needs. The government in 2005 said that electricity plants running on renewable energy such as solar power may account for as much 12 percent of installed capacity by 2025.
"We hope to start the trend," Yu said in a telephone interview from Taipei yesterday. "Boosting the use of alternative energy is a long term policy."
Taiwan has a target for the island to be able to generate 31 megawatts of electricity from sunlight by 2010, Yu said. The government is paying as much as half of the cost of installing solar power systems, according to the energy bureau Web site.
The government owns 97 percent of Taipower, which produces about 75 percent of the electricity the island uses and monopolizes transmission.
Oil may account for as little as 2 percent of Taiwan's installed electricity generating capacity by 2025, compared with 10 percent now, the government said. The island imports almost all its crude oil needs.
