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The Executive Yuan passed the amendment proposal for partial provisions of the Renewable Energy Development Act ("REDA"), amongst which a new requirement is proposed to be added for installation of solar photovoltaic system on the rooftop of certain buildings
The Executive Yuan passed the amendment proposal for partial provisions of the Renewable Energy Development Act ("REDA"), amongst which a new requirement is proposed to be added for installation of solar photovoltaic system on the rooftop of certain buildings
In order to further promote the government's policy for development of renewal energy and to achieve net-zero emissions, on December 8, 2022, the Executive Yuan passed the amendment proposal for partial provisions of the REDA drafted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs ("Amendment Proposal"), amongst which a new article is proposed to be added to the effect that in the event of new construction, expansion or reconstruction of a building that reaches certain level of scale, after taking into consideration of the building's access to sunlight and the applicable exemptions, the builder is required to install solar photovoltaic system with certain minimum installed capacity on the rooftop of the building; and, the date of enforcement of the aforesaid requirement will be further set by the Executive Yuan (Article 12-1 and Article 23 of the Amendment Proposal).
Below please find the summary of the proposed newly-prescribed provision, background and relevant explanation:
1. According to Paragraph 1, Article 12 of the current REDA: "Installation of renewable energy generation facilities shall be prioritized for new construction, expansion, or reconstruction of those public construction work or public buildings conducted by government bodies (institutions), public schools or government-operated enterprises, provided that the conditions for the relevant construction are able to fulfill the requirements for installation of renewable energy facility." On the other hand, the new Article 12-1 of the Amendment Proposal provides: "In the event of new construction, expansion or reconstruction of a building that reaches certain level of scale, the builder of the subject building is required to install solar photovoltaic system with certain minimum installed capacity, unless there will be insufficient access to sunlight or any other exemptions will apply." Accordingly, once the Amendment Proposal is passed, the scope of new construction, expansion or reconstruction of buildings will be expanded from constructions conducted by government bodies (institutions), public schools or government-operated enterprises pursuant to Paragraph 1, Article 12 of the current REDA, to all kinds of buildings that reach certain level of scale. Furthermore, while there is no restriction over the type of the permissible use of the renewable energy facility under Article 12, pursuant to Article 12-1 of the Amendment Proposal, the type of permitted renewable energy facility is only limited to solar photovoltaic facilities in order to promote the goal for installing solar power system on buildings.
2. According to the legislative background, the proposed Article 12-1 was prescribed in reference to Article 3 of the Berlin Solar Act (Solargesetz Berlin) passed by the Berlin House of Representatives on June 17, 2021, which requires that starting from 2023, new buildings as well as renovation/reconstruction of existing buildings with a usable area of more than 50 square meters shall have a rooftop solar photovoltaic system installed that covers at least 30% of the total area and net area of the roof. Furthermore, by referencing the definition of "construction" (including new construction, expansion and reconstruction) and "builder" as respectively prescribed under Articles 9 and 12 of the Building Act, Paragraph 1, Article 12-1 of the Amendment Proposal stipulates that in the event of new construction, expansion or reconstruction of buildings that reaches certain level of scale, the builder is required to install solar photovoltaic system with certain minimum installed capacity on such building, unless there will be insufficient access to sunlight or any other exemptions will apply.
3. As an exception to the requirement under Paragraph 1 of this newly proposed Article 12-1, the aforementioned "insufficient access to sunlight" is referring to the circumstances where the building does not have sufficient solar access due to external buildings or geographic conditions; "applicable exemptions" are referring to those types of buildings that are recognized by the competent building authority being evidently unsuitable for installing solar power facilities, such as cultural heritage required to be preserved and maintained in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act.
4. Paragraph 2 of this newly proposed Article 12-1 further authorizes the central competent building authority, who shall coordinate with the central competent authority to jointly prescribe the regulations and orders governing the criteria for the scope of buildings, the specific level of construction, the minimum installed capacity and its calculation method, access to sunlight, and applicable exemptions as provided under Paragraph 1 thereof, and any other relevant matters.
It is understood that when this newly proposed Article was reviewed and examined by the Economics Committee of the Legislative Yuan on December 29, 2022, the legislators still had different views over the substance of this provision (examples of the outstanding issues: excessive blanket authorization; potentially in lack of consideration for the solar access of each individual building based on different geographic conditions, since the current scope of coverage is to include all buildings from north to the southern part of Taiwan; for private buildings, encouragement could be a more sensible approach as opposed to imposing mandatory requirements). As of the end of 2022, contents of this newly proposed Article 12-1 remained unchanged and will be submitted to the assembly session of the Legislative Yuan for further review.
For those enterprises who plan to make investment in large-scale constructions or operate solar power businesses, and wish to learn more detailed information and analysis on this Amendment Proposal, please do not hesitate to contact the member of our Real Estate and Construction Practice Group and Energy Law Practice Group for more information.