Taipei City Government

A major landmark of combined efforts among the government, the public, and NGOs, the Guandu Junior High School Civic Power Plant – the largest facility of its kind in Taiwan – has begun operations.
 
The project is a first of its kind of city hall, employing open tender for city-owned property and awarding the bid to Homemakers United Foundation, as well as tapping upon crowdfunding mechanism. The mayor pointed out that the civic power plant comprises 63 solar power panels, among which 32 were purchased through crowdfunding. He noticed that numerous contributors are residents of Beitou District, accounting for roughly 56.2% of all backers.
 
In an effort to promote renewable energy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs came up with the vision of having renewable energy account for 20% of total electricity generation by 2025. Noting that 20% is a challenging goal, Ko admits that the city government is exploring ways of implementation. Its initial effort is to adopt the “from inside outward, from public to private” approach, leasing out government-owned properties to boost chances for public-private collaboration.
 
According to Ko, the annual electricity consumption of Taipei exceeded 15.2 billion Kilowatt-hours in 2019. While it consumes a significant amount of power, the city also generates 0.25% of this total with renewable energy sources.
 
The mayor added that while the total capacity of Taipei’s solar power generation has reached 33.63 megawatts, over 79% of the facilities are installed on public-owned properties. That’s why the next step targets private sector partners for policy promotion. He also stressed that citizens participating in the effort can share 20 years of electricity bill revenue, while the city government receives 1% from power generation revenue and 2% going to Guandu Junior High School to support local environment education.