To echo the government’s green energy policy, the Ministry of Defense has installed solar panels on 141 military bases. However, the military’s shift toward renewable energy is raising some tactical concerns from the public.
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As climate change continues to be an important issue to almost every country’s national security, the Defense Ministry is doing its share to make Taiwan more energy resilient. By setting the goal to install solar panels on 141 military bases this year, the military is aiming to generate 185 megawatts of electricity by the end of 2024.
But with the new military installations spotted at the marine corp command in Kaohsiung, many are concerned that the reflective brightness of the solar panels will expose the military’s strategic locations, especially where the tanks are parked.
In response to the concerns, the Defense Ministry says that the solar panels are not installed specifically on the rooftops of the tank depots. Military spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方) adds that most of the solar panels are installed on the buildings where preparation trainings are held, and that the tanks are usually scattered around Taiwan rather than underneath one rooftop.
Expert from the ministry’s think tank Peter Su (蘇紫雲) also said that the fixed locations of these bases have always been public knowledge, so putting solar panels on the rooftops of these buildings shouldn’t make them more of a target than they already are.