The economics ministry has announced a new “energy-saving smart cities” plan in an effort to deal with a tightening energy supply. The ministry is planning to invest some NT$3 billion (nearly US$100 million) in the plan… that will help the nation’s 19 cities and counties roll out energy saving programs, and reward their successes.
The head of the economics ministry’s Bureau of Energy, Lin Chuan-neng, spoke about the goal at a press conference on Thursday.
"The goal we’ve set is energy savings of 2% [over 2014 levels]. If we are successful, that will result in savings of 1.9 billion kilowatt hours, and at NT$2.8852 dollars per kilowatt hour, that’s a savings of NT$5.4 billion, which is a very high return on investment," said Lin.
Lin said the plan would not only save about US$173 million, it would also offer about NT$28 billion (nearly US$900 million) in business opportunities.
Lin said that the plan will promote energy saving among individual users and government organizations, but not within the industry. That’s because, he said, large industrial users have already complied with a government requirement to reduce energy consumption by 1%.