Abstract
Recently, many public and private decision makers are considering how to achieve a sustainable transition without fossil fuel-based energy. Without the consideration of large hydropower, global renewable power capacity increased from 160 GW in 2004, to 280 GW in 2008. In Taiwan, the first two renewable energy sectors are conventional hydropower and wind energy which generate about 5.0 and 1.4% of the total power capacity, respectively. Governments are obligated to ensure that the outcomes in the renewable energy sectors are consistent with a range of economic, social or environmental objectives. Taiwan government also has adopted regulations and incentive/subsidy tools to achieve these objectives. However, the current total installed capacity of renewable energy is still 6.4% of the total power capacity, which suggests that the goal in 2010 (10.3%) could not be reached.
In this paper, renewable energy policy was analyzed and an Amoeba plot approach shown in a “radar” diagram was used to demonstrate the analysis results. A refinement of the Amoeba plot shows that among the nine renewable energy policy objectives in Taiwan, only four can be considered as positively significant. Incentives/subsidies are supposed to be the most common instruments in which governments can use to develop the renewable energy market, but they also cause negative externalities and resource distortions. As policy suggests, if the only objective of the renewable energy policies is economic efficiency in the energy sector, then liberalization of energy markets becomes a vital issue. However, renewable energy policies have to concern themselves not just with economic efficiency, but also society and environments, as well as the long-term sustainability of energy resources available to society.
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