TAIPEI: The government has set minimum wholesale prices for electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines at levels above those for power from fossil fuels in order to spur production of renewable energy.

Wholesale prices will be at least NT$11.12 ($0.35) per kilowatt-hour for power produced from photovoltaic solar panels and NT$2.38 for that produced by wind farms, the Bureau of Energy in Taipei said in a statement on its website yesterday. The rates compared with an average cost of NT$2.06 per kilowatt-hour for fossil fuel produced power.

The government encourages the use of renewable energy to help cut greenhouse-gas emissions and imports of oil, gas and coal, with lawmakers approving the Renewable Energy Development Act this year. Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May last year, has pledged to cut emissions to 2000 levels by 2025.

China Daily/Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 12/31/2009 page2)