PV Design Application Forum Ignites Creativity

Supervised by MOEA's Bureau of Energy and hosted by ITRI, the Photovoltaic Design Application Forum 2008 took place in Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) on December 19th, 2008. This forum shows the government's efforts in promoting PV applications in the past few years. According to Dr. Chung-Wen Lan, the general director of Photovoltaics Technology Center, ITRI, 385 solar power systems have been installed in Taiwan with an acuminated capacity of 5 MWp, generating 6 million kWh as well as reducing 3,720 tons of CO2 emission in 2008.

The 7 themes in the display area include Solar City, Solar Campus, Solar Top (Architecture), Solar Roof, Solar Community, Emergency, and Agriculture, mainly emphasizing the integration of buildings and PV applications. For example, the local government in Pingtung is going to introduce PV application into the Liudai Hakka Cultural Park to promote tourism by the combination of technology and culture. The central government also grants 50% of the application fee (up to 150,000 NTD per kWp) to encourage the public to utilize PV applications.

The forum was concurrently held with the ceremony of Jin-Yi Award, which is awarded annually since 2004 to promote photovoltaic applications and recognize individual or group participants who apply the creations on solar energy and photovoltaic to life of the human beings.

Fig.1 Winners of Jin-Yi Award and Mr. Yunn-Ming Wang, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Energy, MOEA

Courtesy: Photovoltaics Technology Center, ITRI

In order to reflect the industry's need to commercialize light-emitting-diode (LED), as well as to put into effect t the Energy-Saving and Carbon-Reduction Action Plan, both central and local governments collaborated with a number of industry players announcing in late December last year to set up three exclusive demonstration areas as to make clear to all on the determination to nurture the industry.

According to Chii-Ming Yiin, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, with years of subsidization from the government as well as advanced technology improvement from the business end, the long-anticipated third revolution in lighting field has arrived. Minister Yiin further noticed that Taiwan's LED quantity of output tops number one in the world by volume, which is a prop to fuel the industry growth starting 2009 and beyond.

In addition, Taipei City Government, one of the cities on the island that invest in a great deal of money and effort to drive the environmental protection activities, the exclusive demonstration areas play a catalyst to call for more effective follow-up to commitments to energy-saving. Mayor Hao Longbing addressed that the global warming is getting worse to cause damage all over the world, which prompts a general awareness to global governments to work out measures to reduce Greenhouse gas (GHG), and Taipei included.

Fig.2 LED Streetlight Demonstration

Courtesy: PIDA

Since the third quarter in 2008, the global financial crisis has impacted photonic industry worldwide. The revenue of global photonic industry in 2008 is 387.6 billion US dollars with an 8% growth rate— a growth rate lower than ever. Therefore, PIDA's annually-held seminar— Future Trends and Technology Outlook of Taiwan Photonics Industry— will begin on Feb. 17th, 2009 to explore the development of photonic industry in 2009.

The seminar is scheduled for a three day run from Feb. 17th to 19th, and will focus on one area in the photonic industry each day. Day 1 (2/17) will stress on the LED industry, discussing the domestic/global trend in LED application, market, and technology. The main theme of the second day (2/18) will be PV industry, including issues such as PV markets in Europe and the States, an overview of domestic/global PV industry, and the trend of PV technology. Last but not least, the FPD industry will be talked over on day 3 (2/19), which covers some hot topics such as LCD TV, Netbook, digital displays, and touch panels. During the three-day seminar, PIDA's industrial analysts and guest speakers will give participants a real insight into the most current issues in the photonic industry.

For more information, please visit PIDA's website at http://www.pida.org.tw/