According to Taiwan News, during an energy forum on May 6, Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs said that the government has ensured sufficient oil and gas supplies to operate normally through August and possibly September.
But the global energy crisis is also prompting the Taiwanese administration of President Lai Ching-te to accelerate efforts to develop fossil fuel alternatives, including restarting closed nuclear power plants and building renewable energy projects. Taiwan is dependent on imported fossil fuels to meet about 97 percent of its total energy needs, including electricity, transportation and heating, according to the Global Taiwan Institute, a Washington, DC-based think tank.
As part of its energy diversification efforts, Taiwan has emphasized expanding offshore wind power, with the government planning to make 15 gigawatts of capacity available to developers by 2035. Meanwhile, TSMC has announced that it will aim for renewable energy to meet 60 percent of its global operating needs by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.
TSMC plays a big role in shaping Taiwan’s energy future given the energy consumption of its chip fabs. According to an International Energy Agency report on energy and AI, the chipmaker’s energy needs were to account for about 10 percent of Taiwan’s total electricity consumption in 2023.
That share could grow to nearly a quarter of Taiwan’s total electricity use by 2030 as TSMC invests in more energy-intensive manufacturing to meet global AI demand for advanced chips, according to S&P Global estimates cited by Data Center Dynamics.
Beyond the Hai Long project, TSMC previously signed another power purchase agreement with Danish renewable energy company Firsted in 2020 for 920 MW of power from the Greater Changhua offshore wind farm project, which is expected to be fully operational later in 2026. The chip maker also inked a deal with German renewable energy developer WPD to develop more than 1 gigawatt of onshore and offshore wind power in 2021.
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