The development of Taiwan’s wind power competitiveness should be on par with international standards following a 10-year policy that began in 2017, Ministry of Economic Affairs Industrial Development Administration Deputy Director-General Tsou Yu-hsin (???) said.

Tsou made the remarks in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Friday, citing government policies to support efforts to localize the wind power generation production chain since 2017, which are divided into three five-year stages.

Tsou said that localizing the production of wind power components would help the government attain its goals of using more green energy and developing Taiwanese green industries.

Ministry of Economic Affairs Industrial Development Administration Deputy Director-General Tsou Yu-hsin gestures during an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) in Taipei on Friday.

Photo: Liao Chia-ning, Taipei Times

We did not want to just import all equipment from the EU or other countries, which led to the decision to grow Taiwan’s green power generation and our industry, he added.

The government also wanted to expand Taiwan’s energy resilience, as fostering domestic production capabilities would ensure that repairs and maintenance would be less costly and more efficient, Tsou said.

Imagine if components had to be manufactured and shipped to Taiwan from abroad, the downtime — anywhere between three months to a year — would make Taiwan’s power generation less capable, he said.

The first five-year stage was dubbed the learning stage, during which the government inventoried domestic capabilities and isolated 20 items that Taiwan could manufacture domestically while matching international standards in terms of quality, price and speed, he said.

The initial stage was understandably challenging, because companies were expected to invest significant capital, introduce new technologies and train personnel to operate equipment, Tsou said.

The end product was expected to be compatible with international standards and immediately usable by wind power generation units, he said.

However, the government’s expectations that domestic companies would be able to completely manufacture all 20 items domestically within the first five-years were ultimately dashed, which made the second five-year stage — the “growing” stage — even more critical, Tsou said.

The nation has now entered the first and second phases of the third stage of wind power block development projects, he said.

During these projects, companies have been asked to grow their production capabilities and reduce overheads for production, with the expectation that by the conclusion of the “growing” stage, domestic companies would be able to meet international standards in terms of tech, quality, price and delivery times, Tsou said.

The third five-year stage, the “mature” stage, is to coincide with the 3-3 stage of wind power block development, which is the point at which government support would be gradually withdrawn, and the companies would be expected to establish their footing, not only in Asia, but also on the international stage, he said.