| Abstract |
Taiwan has an estimated 30–40 GW of geothermal potential, yet as of mid-2025 only 7.49 MW is operating, with a further 12.65 MW expected by the end of 2025—far below government ambitions for gigawatt-scale deployment by 2030. This gap reflects technical, market, and governance constraints, including a framework historically shaped by the 2003 Hot Spring Act and fragmented subsurface institutions. Since 2023, Taiwan has introduced geothermal-specific regulations, amended the Renewable Energy Development Act, refined feed-in tariffs, and proposed reforms to ease land-use constraints for directional drilling, while corporate PPAs and new international partnerships signal rising commercial interest. This paper asks why progress remains slow despite these reforms and what institutional changes are needed to unlock Taiwan’s geothermal potential. Drawing on a targeted review of legal instruments, policy reports, and recent scholarship, it compares geothermal governance in the United States (EGS, data infrastructure, and permitting), New Zealand (RMA, fast-track consenting, and Māori co-governance), and Japan (JOGMEC risk-sharing and hot-spring integration), and then maps these insights onto Taiwan’s context. The analysis identifies four persistent barriers: fragmented land parcels and unclear rules for directional drilling; the absence of unified technical and well-control standards; disjointed and non-interoperable data systems; and slow, multi-agency permitting with limited geothermal expertise. The paper concludes by proposing reforms to establish enforceable technical codes and certification, create a federated geothermal data portal, streamline permitting, and introduce structured risk-sharing and community-benefit mechanisms that together reduce early-stage risk and create a credible pathway to scale geothermal development in Taiwan. |