TAIPEI, Taiwan, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Taiwanese environmental energy activists are disputing government data about solar energy costs.
The particular target of their ire is the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which they allege states that solar energy would raise electricity expenditures. The activists cite statistics indicating that using solar energy actually helps reduce electricity costs rather than raise them, the Taipei Times reported Monday.
The dispute arose after MOEA last month announced a provocative new pricing policy for solar power that calculates rates based on the completion date of a solar facility, rather than when the contract was signed, as with other energy facilities.
MOEA defended its decision by reporting that over the next two decades the public would be subsidizing private solar energy suppliers with $14.8 billion if the rates were calculated from the date when the contract was signed, which would in turn raise electricity costs.
The environmentalists have some political support as well. Democratic Progressive Party legislator Tien Chiu-chin observed: "We have to import 99.7 percent of our energy from overseas, which has threatened national security. Developing solar or wind power is our only hope to produce energy and sustain ourselves."
