RENEWABLE ENERGY:
The company said it was working “full steam ahead” on an aquavoltaic project to prepare it to connect to the grid by the end of next year.

• By Angelica Oung / Journalist

J&V Energy Technology Co (雲 è±¹ 能æº) announced Thursday that it had secured a syndicated loan of NT $ 6.22 billion (US $ 223.9 million) to finance an aquavoltaic project in Tainan.

Bank SinoPac (æ°¸è± éŠ€è¡Œ) is the leader of the deal, with many other financial institutions including E. Sun Commercial Bank (玉山 銀行) and Mega Bills Finance Co (å…†è± ç¥¨åˆ¸), also participating, a statement from the company mentioned.

The renewable energy company announced in March that it had purchased a site for the aquavoltaic project – a fish farm and a solar farm – in the Beimen district of Tainan (北 é–€). Based on its planned installed capacity of 123 megawatts (MW), it would produce 180 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to meet the electricity needs of 50,000 homes.

About 10 MW of the capacity has already been purchased by Google Inc, the Internet giant’s first renewable energy purchase in Asia.

J&V said it was “working full steam ahead” to complete the project and prepare it to connect to the grid by the end of next year.

“Taiwan needs to think about how to balance the development of renewable energy and responsible use of land,†said J&V President Lai Chin-lin (è³´å‹éºŸ). “All along the Taiwanese coast there are huge fish farms that can be converted into aquavoltaic farms.”

The additional source of income would be a boon for fishermen and landowners, Lai said.

“Hard work is not enough; these aquavoltaic projects require huge amounts of capital, â€Lai said. “It is only with the support of a consortium of banks that we will be able to make this project a reality.”

J&V plans to enter other renewable energy fields, such as offshore wind, energy storage and desalination plants, Lai said.

As renewable energy projects increase in size over the years, their financial needs have also exploded in recent years, said Bank SinoPac Chairman Eric Chuang (莊 銘 ç¦).

“In the future, most of the projects will be financed by a syndicated loan,†Chuang said. “There will also be more ‘relocation’ of Taiwanese manufacturers, which may also require syndicated loans, which will make it an increasingly important form of funding.”

In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday raised its feed-in tariffs for solar projects completed before the end of the year by NT $ 0.2245 per kilowatt hour to reflect the increase in the prices of basic products used in the chain. solar photovoltaic supply. .

“An adjustment to reflect developer costs will promote on-time completion of projects,†the ministry said in a statement.

If commodity prices continue to fluctuate, the feed-in tariff rate would be adjusted “as and when”, he added.