Taipei, July 15 (CNA) More than 13,000 subscribers have signed up for the 2017 green power program initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) so far in 2017, topping the goal of 10,000 for the year, the ministry said Saturday.
As of July 13, a total of 13,251 institutional and individual customers had participated in the 2017 green power purchase program, surpassing the more than 7,000 subscribers who signed up for the program last year, when the goal 4,000.
According to the MOEA, state-owned CPC Corp. Taiwan (中油) is the largest contributor to the program so far this year, agreeing to purchase 8 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power.
Next in line are telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom Co. (中華電信, 6 million kWh) and integrated circuit packaging and testing firm Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (日月光, 4.5 million kWh).
In July 2014, the MOEA launched a program to encourage enterprises and individuals to purchase green power in a bid to promote renewable energy and environmental protection.
Under the MOEA program, companies or individuals subscribe to a certain amount of green power collected by Taipower from renewable sources around Taiwan at a premium on NT$1.06 per kWh over regular electricity prices.
The amount of green power they subscribe to is deducted from the amount of power they actually use and are charged for over the course of the year.
Proceeds from the program go to a renewable energy fund to support renewable energy applications, such as feed-in tariff subsidies.
The MOEA said 2,994 institutions and 10,257 individuals have signed up for almost 86 million kWh of green power so far this year, still well below the maximum 1.31 billion kWh available.
A total of 24 institutional buyers have agreed to purchase more than 1 million kWh each, including the three largest buyers, it said.
The 24 major institutional customers also included China Mobile Co. (台灣大哥大, 3.36 million kWh), I-Mei Foods Co. (義美食品, 3 million kWh), Taiwan's largest steel maker China Steel Corp. (中鋼, 3 million kWh) and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. (台化, 3 million).
Of the individual buyers under the program who have agreed to be identified, ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) was the biggest, subscribing to 10,000 kWh.
Contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC,台積電), which has traditionally been the program's biggest participant, has yet to sign up this year.
In 2016, TSMC bought 200 million kWh in green power after purchasing 100 million kWh in 2015.
(By Huang Li-yun and Frances Huang)
enditem/ls