Renewable energy suppliers will soon be able to apply for distribution permits to speed up the development of nation’s renewable energy industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

“Power distributors will be able to start applying for permits to transmit and distribute power from renewable energy suppliers to customers at the end of next month at the earliest,” Bureau of Energy official Lee Chih-yuan (李志遠) told reporters at the ministry.

Renewable energy suppliers can finally start selling electricity to customers, Lee added.

The legislature in January passed the amended Electricity Act (電業法), which allows renewable energy suppliers to sell electricity to enterprises and households, instead of only selling power to Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電).

Under the amended regulations, distributors would pay less when using Taipower’s grid if they are transmitting renewable energy.

The ministry yesterday approved the discount ranges, Lee said.

For instance, the fee for transmitting solar power on Taipower’s grid is to be NT$0.0108 to NT$0.0169 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with NT$0.2861 to NT$0.4462 per kWh for coal-fired electricity, Lee said.

Renewable energy suppliers can also choose to build their own direct lines, for which they are only required to pay power dispatching and assisted service fees to Taipower, Lee said.

Lee said the ministry would review and adjust the pricing mechanism for renewable and non-renewable energy sources on an annual basis.