Legislation mandating rooftop solar panels passes Legislature

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) Legislators passed an amendment Monday that will require all newly built, expanded, or altered structures that meet specific conditions to have rooftop solar panels incorporated into the building's design and installed.

The amendment was one of several revisions to the Renewable Energy Development Act that were approved Monday after being proposed by the Cabinet and sent to the Legislative Yuan last December with the aim of stepping up Taiwan's renewable energy drive.

According to the amendment, new buildings that meet a size threshold will be required to design into the building the space for a certain installed capacity of solar panels and then have those panels installed.

The building owners will be allowed to use the electricity generated themselves or sell it to state-run utility Taiwan Power Co. or private entities under existing provisions in the act.

The amendments were reviewed along with related proposals by various parties in the Legislature, but the revisions passed were mainly based on the versions proposed by the Cabinet.

It will be up to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the construction industry, to work out the key details of the solar panel amendment, such as size threshold for new buildings and the type of building covered.

They will also have to establish the minimum required installed capacity of a solar power array under the revision, and set standards for exposure to the sun and the date when the revision will take effect.

Other areas covered by the amendments were new provisions related to offshore wind power, hydropower, and geothermal energy sources.

Because new technologies have overcome obstacles such as deep water, the amendment related to offshore wind removes a previous provision saying offshore wind installations could "not go beyond territorial waters" to expand their range of deployment.

Another revision allows water storage facilities to be used for hydropower generation, and still another defined the competent authority and application procedures for surveying geothermal power sources, to establish consistent rules and related procedures.