Renewables to reach 15.1% in 2025, missing 20% target: MOEA

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs said Friday that it expects Taiwan to get 15.1 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, falling short of a 20 percent target set by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2016.

According to the Taiwan Energy Statistics Year Book, published by the MOEA's Bureau of Energy Friday, the share of renewables in Taiwan's electricity mix had increased to 6 percent by the end of last year and is expected to reach 8 percent by the end of 2022.

When Tsai took office in 2016 -- at a time when renewables accounted for 4.1 percent of Taiwan's electricity mix -- the president laid out plans to get 20 percent of Taiwan's electricity from renewables by 2025, with 50 percent coming from natural gas and 30 percent coal.

The plan was part of a campaign promise to phase out the country's three remaining nuclear power plants, which provided about 9.6 percent of Taiwan's electricity last year.

The report blamed the expected renewables target shortfall on increasing demand for electricity.

According to the report, electricity consumption rose by 4.5 percent last year, driven by expanding production in the manufacturing sector following the global economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, integrating renewable energy sources into the grid in a way that allows them to operate at full capacity remains a challenge, with grid connections for the renewable sources not expected to be fully completed until the end of 2025, the report said.

The report added that the government was now hoping to realize the target of 20 percent renewables in its energy mix by October 2026.

Through utilizing power generation from offshore wind farms, solar projects, and biofuel energy, the government aims to increase the share of renewables to 21 percent in 2027 and 23 percent in 2028, according to the report.