Taiwan's solar industry may grow to NT$500 billion ($16 billion) by 2012 as the government promotes the use of renewable energy, the Cabinet said.
Revenue from makers of solar-electricity components was NT$11.3 billion for the first six months of this year, the Cabinet said in a statement posted on its Web site last night, following a visit by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan to two manufacturers yesterday.
“The solar energy industry is the star of tomorrow,'' Liu was cited as saying. “We mustn't let high oil prices use up our competitiveness.''
Liu urged Taiwan's legislature to pass a renewable energy bill to spur the development of new energy sources. The island wants to cut its dependency on oil and gas imports as fuel prices surge.
A delegation including Liu, chairman of the National Science Council Lee Lou-chuang and vice minister of economics Hsieh Fada yesterday visited Sino-American Silicon Products Inc., Taiwan's largest supplier of silicon used in solar cell making, and Gintech Energy Corp., Taiwan's second-largest maker of solar cells.
