wind, renewables go round, and around and around

taipei times has an update on the wind-power firm: renewable energy back in focus after German company threatens to pull out

... Following a threat earlier this month by German wind-power firm InfraVest GmbH — the only private producer of wind energy in Taiwan — to quit the country, debate surrounding a bill to develop alternative energy from renewable resources, blocked in the legislature for more than six years, was brought back into focus.

Recently, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) have restated the government’s position that the bill must clear the legislative floor before the end of this legislative session on May 31.

New Energy Association of Taiwan secretary-general Rosa Tsou (鄒智純) said she doubted the government was resolute enough to push the bill through, as it “involves complicated business interests involving different parties.”

what a surprise
read on

... A senior legislative assistant who wished to remain anonymous said that had it not been for some lawmakers who were pressured by operators of incinerators, the bill would likely have cleared the legislature at the end of 2005.

... it was again delayed after a lawmaker sought ... to include electricity generated from rice husks.

Another lawmaker ... tried to add “run-of-river water plants,” ... a practice that can damage the environment

... Green Consumers’ Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) said he doubted the bills would increase renewable energy use.

“The bills focus mainly on establishing a subsidy system to help renewable energy projects, while the objective should be to create an environment in which renewable energy operators would find it profitable to invest,” Fang said.

... “Before InfraVest GmbH invested in the country, Taipower told the ministry that the cost of producing one unit of electricity from wind was between NT$7 and NT$8. Why, then, did Taipower offer InfraVest only NT$2 per unit?” he asked.