Following the Ministry of Economic Affairs' approval of a NT$6.7 billion (approx. US$207.7 million) subsidy, global GPU leader Nvidia has begun fulfilling its commitments to the Taiwanese government. The company will provide 25% of the computing power of the "Taipei-1" supercomputer for free use by Taiwan's academic and research community and startups within a specified timeframe.
When legislators referenced Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comments about increasing investments in Taiwan contingent upon the availability of 10 billion kilowatt-hours of green electricity, Minister of Economic Affairs Jyh-Huei Kuo confirmed that this demand can be met.
Minister Kuo stated that by 2026, Taiwan's renewable energy installed capacity could provide up to 55 billion kilowatt-hours of zero-carbon green electricity, sufficient to satisfy the green energy needs of companies like TSMC and Nvidia. However, the Ministry later clarified that Nvidia had not formally submitted this request and was unaware of the source of the legislator's information.
Taiwan's current green energy development focuses primarily on solar photovoltaic and offshore wind power, with projected installed capacities reaching 21 gigawatts (approximately 25 billion kilowatt-hours) and 5.6 gigawatts (approximately 19 billion kilowatt-hours) respectively by 2026. When combined with hydropower, land-based wind power, and biomass energy, the total green electricity supply is expected to reach 55 billion kilowatt-hours.
Looking toward the future, Taiwan plans to promote solar photovoltaic and offshore wind power while accelerating the development of geothermal and hydrogen energy alongside other diverse green energy sources. The Ministry will continue to assess the scheduling of green electricity usage to ensure consistent supply meets corporate green energy demands annually.
To assist businesses in obtaining green electricity and meeting their supply chain and ESG requirements, the Ministry has established a green electricity trading mechanism enabling both suppliers and consumers to freely trade green electricity in the market. Furthermore, efforts are underway to guide green electricity into the free trading market and implement various measures to enhance demand-side matching, improving accessibility for all types of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
Regarding market access, regulations have been relaxed to allow self-use solar photovoltaic projects to enter without examination. Taiwan Power Company is introducing small-scale products suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises' electricity consumption using its green electricity resources. Offshore wind power will adopt a bidding approach, allowing competitively priced bids to enter the market for resale to interested enterprises.
To strengthen matching capabilities, a pan-governmental electricity sales company will be established to negotiate contracts with offshore wind developers for bulk purchases, which will then be divided into smaller, short-term green electricity products for distribution to businesses. Additionally, a group purchasing allocation mechanism for landlords will be created to help small and medium-sized enterprise users in commercial buildings without electricity numbers access green electricity.
In alignment with the trend towards net-zero emissions, the second phase of the new gas turbine unit project at Taichung Power Plant has passed an environmental impact assessment review. Plans include constructing four gas combined cycle units. Of the existing ten coal-fired units, four will be decommissioned and dismantled, while six will be converted to emergency standby national security units.
