Taiwan to fund solar tech

Digitimes reports on the solar tech development budget in Taiwan:

Taiwan's Executive Yuan has proposed a 5-year budget of NT$30 billion (US$8.8 billion) specifically for financially sponsoring renewable energy R&D projects, with a focus on the solar energy and LED industries, according to industry sources.

In line with the initiative, the National Science Council has decided to increase the status of R&D projects regarding solar energy or LEDs from an ordinary level to a national level beginning 2009, giving priority to such projects when applying for government funding, the sources pointed out.

The two main focuses of Taiwan's solar energy industry are that its energy conversion rates of 15-16% for polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) solar cells are lower than international levels of 17%, and self-sufficiency of poly-Si is low, the sources indicated.

Now if only the government had a program to dramatically increase solar power use.....

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