Taiwan government's National Development Fund (NDF) will offer 15-year loans totaling NT$10 billion (US$338 million) to finance exports of green-energy products, including solar, wind, LED lighting, biomass and electric vehicles, and related production equipment by Taiwan-based makers. The current interest rates will be less than 4% and loan amounts will be up to NT$1 billion for each application, according to NDF's management committee. The loan financing is expected to generate total production value of NT$62.5 billion from related supply chains and create 6,000 jobs, the committee pointed out.
For every project that applies for this loan, NDF will finance two thirds of the total investment while the bank will provide the rest. The bank will be given the authority to handle all matters concerning the loans. In particular, the interest rate will be based on the six-month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). NDF will only allow banks to add three percentage points to the six-month LIBOR, which is at 0.65% currently.
Solar firms noted that for bankable Taiwan-based solar firms to build solar PV systems in Europe, the loan interest rate is currently around 5-8%, hence the NDF rate is quite competitive and will give Taiwan-based solar firms more financial flexibility. However, LIBOR is not a fixed rate, hence solar firms need to pay attention to its fluctuations.
According to NDF, the main purpose of this fund is to help the green energy industry in Taiwan. NDF added that the main financing bank will be the Export-Import Bank.
