Article 1
For purposes of encouraging renewable energy use, promoting energy diversification, improving environmental quality, assisting relevant industries and enhancing sustainable development of the country, this Act is specially formulated.

Article 2
The competent authorities referred to in this Act are: the Ministry of Economic Affairs at the central level; the municipal governments at the municipal level; the county (city) governments at the county (city) level.

Article 3
Definitions of terms used in the Act:
1. Renewable energy: Refers to solar energy, biomass energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, wind energy, non-pumped storage hydropower, energy generated by direct use or treatment of domestic general waste and general industrial waste, or other energy approved for sustainable use by the central competent authority.
2. Biomass energy: Refers to energy generated from direct use or treatment of vegetation, marsh gas and domestic organic waste.
3. Geothermal energy: Refers to energy from soil, rock, steam or hot spring below the natural surface of the earth.
4. Offshore wind power system: Refers to offshore wind farm installed in waters outside the subtidal line and not exceeding the bounds of territorial sea.
5. Run-off river type hydropower: Refers to hydropower generated by natural volume of water and the difference thereof in ditches.
6. Hydrogen energy: Refers to energy generated from hydrogen from decomposing water, or from bacteria or algae decomposition or fermentation.
7. Fuel cell: Refers to a device that converts chemical energy generated by electrochemical reaction from hydrogen and oxygen into electric energy.
8. Heat utilization of renewable energy: Refers to utilization of energy by heat or fuel instead of power generation.
9. Renewable energy power facilities: Refers to power facility ratified by the central competent authority pursuant to regulation under paragraph 3 of Article 4 except for facilities of non-run off river type hydropower and facilities generating energy from burning waste directly.
10. Avoided cost: Refers to the average yearly cost of self-generating or purchasing non-renewable energy power from other suppliers.
The subtidal line of the aforesaid offshore wind power system shall be announced by the central competent authority

Article 4
The central competent authority shall consider the domestic climate, energy demand characteristics, and the economic benefits, technological development and other factors of different renewable energies upon promoting renewable energy power facilities.
Renewable energy power facilities approved by the central competent authority shall be applicable to the parallel connection and wholesale purchasing provisions stipulated under this Act.
The regulations on the energy category, installed capacity, inspection method, approval procedure and other matters for compliance of the renewable energy power facilities in the preceding paragraph, shall be stipulated by the central competent authority.

Article 5
Where the installed capacity for self-use renewable energy power generating facilities is less than 500 kilowatts, it shall not be subject to Article 97, 98, 100, 101 and 103.
As for renewable energy power facilities, unless otherwise stipulated in the preceding paragraph, Article 8, 9 and 14, the application for installation, constructions, operation, supervision, registration and management are subject to the relevant provisions under the Electricity Act.
The aforesaid constructions include design, supervision, installation, operation, renovation, inspection and maintenance.

Article 6
Within twenty (20) years from the date of promulgation of this Act, the central competent authority may take into account the renewable energy’s development potential and the impact on the domestic economy and stable power supply, while setting the promotion objectives for renewable energy and the percentage of each category every two (2) years.
The rewardable gross capacity of renewable energy under this Act shall be 6.5 million kilowatts to 10 million kilowatts of gross installed capacity. Upon the rewardable gross installed capacity reaching 5 million kilowatts, the central competent authority shall review the category of renewable energy stipulated by regulations adopted in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 4 in terms of the economic benefits, technological development and relevant factors of different renewable energies.
The promotion objectives and schedule for heat utilization of renewable energy shall be stipulated by the central competent authority depending on the economic benefits, technological developments and relevant factors.

Article 7
Electricity enterprises and anyone equipped with self-use power generating facilities exceeding a certain installed capacity shall pay a certain amount to a fund calculated by the total power generated of its non-renewable energy for the development of renewable energy. The government will prepare extra budget if necessary.
The aforementioned certain installed capacity will be prescribed by the central competent authority; the aforementioned certain amount will be stipulated by the central competent authority in accordance with the use of the category of energy.
Regulations governing the collection, procedure, deadline and other relevant matters regarding the fund referred to in paragraph 1 shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.
The aforesaid fund in paragraph 1 shall be used for the following purposes:
1. to subsidize renewable energy electricity fees.
2. to subsidize renewable energy facilities.
3. to subsidize demonstration and promotion of the use of renewable energy.
4. for other purposes related to the development of renewable energy approved by the central competent authority.
The expenses of the fund payments pursuant to paragraph 1 or the expenses of the fund payments added in the electric power purchase price to other sources by the electricity enterprise and other businesses equipped with self-use power generating facilities whose installed capacity exceeds a certain amount may, upon the approval of central competent authority, be attached to the electric selling price of said enterprises and other businesses.

Article 8
The renewable energy power facilities and the electric power generated shall have the stability of their power grids evaluated by local electric power grid enterprises and have them paralleled and bought wholesale at the locations where existing power grids are closest to renewable energy power assembly sites and provide electricity required by such power facilities during maintenance shutdown period; electricity enterprises shall not reject the aforesaid request without proper reason and approval of the central competent authority; the central competent authority may designate other electricity enterprises for such matters where necessary.
The said parallel connection with proper technology is limited to enterprise with economical and reasonable cost burdens; other than the existing circuits, the cost for power grid enhancement will be shared among both the electricity enterprises and renewable energy power facility installers.
Wholesalers of renewable energy electric power by the electricity enterprises in accordance with this Act shall enter into agreements with the renewable energy power facility installers and report to the central competent authority for recordation.
The technical specifications of parallel connection and pricing of electricity required for maintenance shutdown period in paragraph 1, shall be stipulated by electricity enterprises and submitted to the central competent authority for approval.
The installer shall install and maintain the circuits connecting renewable energy power facilities and power grids; the electricity enterprises with which its power facility are paralleled to the installer’s facilities shall provide assistance when necessary; the renewable energy power generation facility installers shall bear the costs incurred.

Article 9
The central competent authority shall invite the relevant government agencies, scholars and experts, and organizations to form a committee, to validate the wholesale purchase rate and such calculation formula for the renewable energy power facilities’ generated electric power, and when necessary, hearings may be held in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act prior the announcement of said rate and formula, and the aforesaid wholesale purchase rate and calculation formula may be reviewed or amended in considering the technical progress in power generation, changes in cost, goal achievement and related factors of each type of renewable energy on an annual basis.
The rate calculation formula in the preceding paragraph will be stipulated by the central competent authority through integrated consideration for the average installation cost, service life, operation and maintenance fees, annual electricity generation capacity and related factors for each type of renewable energy power facility in accordance with each type of renewable energy.
To encourage and promote non-pollution green energy, and boost renewable energy installers’ investment will, the wholesale purchase rate shall not be lower than the average cost of domestic fossil fuel energy.
The renewable energy power facility installers shall purchase wholesale by the rate announced pursuant to paragraph 3 of the preceding Article if entering into contracts with electricity enterprises after the promulgation of this Act.
The original wholesale purchase rate will apply if electricity purchase and sale contracts are made between the installer and electricity enterprises prior the promulgation of this Act.
Renewable energy power facilities under any of the following circumstances shall be purchased wholesale either at the avoided cost or the rate referred to in the first paragraph, at the comparably lower rate:
1. Prior to the enforcement of this Act, businesses already in operation that have not entered into electricity purchase and sale contracts with electricity enterprises.
2. Businesses in operation for over twenty (20) years.
3. Businesses who installed such facility after the nationwide gross installed capacity for renewable energy power facility has reached the gross reward cap as set forth in paragraph 2 of Article 6.

Article 10
Renewable energy power facilities installed prior the nationwide gross installed capacity achieving reward cap set forth in paragraph 2 of Article 6, whereas the electricity generated by said facilities is purchased wholesale pursuant to the preceding Article or self-generated by electricity enterprises, unless the installation is otherwise compulsory pursuant to other laws, subsidies may be applied. Said subsidies shall be paid by the fund established by this Act with approval from the central competent authority
The aforesaid subsidies shall be calculated by the comparative difference between wholesale purchase rate in paragraph 4 and 5 in the preceding Article and avoided cost.
The avoided cost referred to both in paragraph 6 of the preceding article and the preceding paragraph shall be stipulated by the electricity enterprise and reported to the central competent authority for approval.
Regulations governing the application and the examination methods of renewable energy expenses subsidization in paragraph 1 shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

Article 11
For renewable energy power facility with development potential, in the preliminary stage of technical development, the central competent authority may provide relevant reward encouragement within a certain period for the purpose of demonstration.
Regulations governing the aforesaid reward encouragement for demonstration shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

Article 12
In the event of new construction, reconstruction of public construction or public buildings by the government, the construction conditions in compliance with the terms of renewable energy installation shall have priority installation for renewable energy power facility.

Article 13
The central competent authority may consider reasonable costs and profits for the following heat utilization of renewable energy and shall prescribe regulations on subsidies and reward encouragement for heat utilization according to the effectiveness of their energy contribution:
1. Heat utilization of solar energy.
2. Biomass fuel.
3. Other renewable energy heat utilization technologies with development potential.
For the heat utilization in the previous paragraph, such subsidy expenses for the substituted portions of petroleum energy may be financed by the Petroleum Fund under the Petroleum Administration Act.
Reward expenses for the exploitation of fallow land or idle land for agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry to plant energy crops for producing biomass fuel will be financed by the Agricultural Development Fund; regulations governing such reward eligibility, conditions and subsidy methods, and schedule shall be prescribed by the central competent authority in conjunction with the Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan.

Article 14
For those renewable energy power facilities that exceed a certain installed capacity determined by the central competent authority, the rights acquisition, usage procedures and handling of the land required by such renewable energy power facilities and power supply lines, Article 50 to 56 of the Electricity EnterpriseAct shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 15
For the use or acquisition of land for renewable energy power facility and relevant facilities for its power transmission and transformation, the provisions relating to public utilities or public facilities under the Urban Plan Act, Regional Plan Act and related laws and regulations shall apply mutatis mutandis.
In the event of leasing national or public forest due to land use required by renewable energy power facility and relevant facilities for its power transmission and transformation, the provisions relating to public utilities or public facilities under Article 8 of the Forestry Act shall apply mutatis mutandis.
For land dedicated to renewable energy power facilities and relevant facilities for its power transmission and transformation which are situated in fishing port areas, the provisions under Article 14 in the Fishing Port Act relating to general facility of the fishing port shall apply mutatis mutandis.
Establishment of the burning type of biomass energy power plants should be limited to industrial areas with the exception of electricity generated by marsh gas power.

Article 16
Where construction or operation machineries, equipment, special means of transport for construction use, training materials and such required components imported by corporate legal persons for the construction or operation of renewable energy power facilities are proved by the central competent authority that such use is verified and not domestically manufactured or supplied, import tariffs shall be exempted.
If devices imported by corporate legal persons in the preceding paragraph are already domestic manufactured or supplied, after the central competent authority proves the veracity of its use, with adequate guarantee, such import tariffs may be paid in installments after one year, beginning from the date of completion of the project.
Where the renewable energy power facility for self-use imported by natural persons are proved by the central competent authority that such use is verified and is not domestically manufactured or supplied yet, import tariffs shall be exempted.
In case where the imported goods are exempt from import tariffs or there is payment of such tariffs by installments per the three preceding paragraphs, Article 55 of the Customs Act shall apply when a transfer of ownership or a change in use occurs .
Regulations governing tariffs exempt or paid in installments referred to in paragraph 1 to 3 shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Finance in consultation with relevant authorities.
Regulations governing application procedures for evidentiary documents and the range of items and compliance matters for natural persons’ self-use of renewable energy power facilities shall be prescribed by the central competent authority in consultation with relevant authorities.

Article 17
Renewable energy power generation and utilization system related facilities, depending on different facility characteristics, are exempt from application for miscellaneous licenses in accordance with provisions under the Building Act when its installed capacity, height or square footage is less than a certain scale.
The standard of installed capacity, height or square footage of facilities exempt from application for miscellaneous licenses referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by the central competent authority in conjunction with the central competent authority of building.

Article 18
When necessary, the central competent authority may require renewable energy power facility installers to provide operation information of such facilities and send employees or mandate professional institutions to carry out the inspections; the aforesaid installers shall not evade, impede or refuse such inspection.
Businesses referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 7 that are equipped with self-use power generating facilities exceeding a certain installed capacity shall compile its business conditions into abbreviated monthly reports and further compile annual reports within three (3) months after the end of each business year to submit to the central competent authority for recordation; the central competent authority may request such businesses to provide supplementary explanations or send employees to carry out inspections, to which the self-use power generating facility installers shall not evade, impede or refuse to comply.
The report format referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

Article 19
For disputes that arise between renewable energy power facility installers and electricity enterprises, either party shall apply for mediation by the central competent authority prior to initiating an action, to which the other party shall not refuse.
The central competent authority shall invite scholars and experts as mediators for the dispute referred to in the preceding paragraph.
A successful mediation shall take the same effect as a settlement in litigation; an unsuccessful mediation shall seek arbitration or litigation proceedings.
Regulations governing the application, procedures and relevant matters for mediation referred to in paragraph 1 and 2 shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

Article 20
Under any of the following circumstances, the central competent authority shall provide notice of improvement within a designated time period; businesses that fail to improve by the designated time period shall be imposed with a fine of NT$300,000~NT$1,500,000 and will be ordered to make improvements once again within a designated time period; businesses that still fail to improve shall be continuously penalized per each instances:
1. Violation of paragraph 1 of Article 7, failure to pay the fund.
2. Violation of paragraph 1 of Article 8, failure to make parallel or wholesale purchase or provide required electricity during the maintenance shutdown period.

Article 21
For violation of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 18 where the businesses evade, impede or refuse examination or inspection, the businesses may be penalized with a fine of NT$300,000~NT$1,500,000.

Article 22
For violation of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 18 where businesses fail to provide and report information, fail to provide and report information on time, provide and report false information or fail to cooperate by providing supplementary explanation, the central competent authority shall provide notice of improvement within a designated time period; businesses that fail to improve by the designated time period will be imposed with a fine of NT$200,000~ NT$1,000,000 and will be ordered to make improvements once again within a designated time period; businesses still without improvement shall be continuously penalized according to each instance.

Article 23
This Act shall enter into force as of the date of promulgation.