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Developers accused of bribing local officials to overcome opposition to Fenglin Township solar farm projects
 Oct. 23, 2026 19:05
Hualien District Prosecutors Office's Prosecutorial Hall. (CNA photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Hualien District Court on Thursday ordered seven suspects in a bribery investigation involving solar farm projects in Hualien County’s Fenglin to be held incommunicado for two months to prevent collusion with other suspects or witnesses.
The court said Friday that evidence presented by prosecutors indicated the seven suspects may have been involved in breach of trust, bribery, money laundering, and other offenses, per UDN. It cited concerns that some suspects had not responded to prosecutors’ summonses and that the statements given by the seven detained suspects differed from prosecution evidence and from each other’s accounts.
Those detained include former Fenglin Township Mayor Hsiao Wen-lung (蕭文龍), former Hualien County Farmers’ Association General Manager Kuan Chun-yen (官俊彥), HD Renewable Energy Group Chair Edward Hsieh (謝源一), General Manager Jason Chou (周仕昌), Deputy Manager Li Yung-ching (李永清), Senior Assistant Manager Hsieh Tzu-yen (謝紫燕), and former Feng Kuang Chu Neng Inc. General Manager Lin Chun-cheng (林俊呈), per Mirror Daily.
HD Renewable Energy reportedly began targeting Fenglin Township for solar farm development in 2019 because of its relatively flat terrain and sunny weather, per Liberty Times. After the Ministry of Economic Affairs authorized township offices to review small-scale solar farm projects, higher electricity purchase prices in eastern Taiwan attracted investors to the area.
However, HD Renewable Energy’s proposed solar farm projects, covering more than 1,000 hectares, faced strong local opposition. Projects near Indigenous lands on occasion required the company to obtain consent from local tribes in addition to addressing broader community resistance, per Tai Sounds.
To overcome these obstacles, HD Renewable Energy allegedly paid kickbacks of approximately NT$30 million (US$920,000) to Hsiao and NT$10 million to Kuan. Opposition nevertheless persisted, and the company eventually decided to withdraw from the projects.
The Investigation Bureau deployed 11 units across Taiwan on Wednesday to conduct simultaneous searches at 55 locations. HD Renewable Energy executives were allegedly attempting to flee, while investigators seized the suspects and the company’s financial records.
Hualien County Government commented on the case Thursday, saying that, apart from a solar farm project approved under acting county magistrate Tsai Pi-chung (蔡碧仲) in 2018, it had not approved any new projects since then, per CNews.
HD Renewable Energy was previously implicated in a scandal involving a feeder-line application and former Green Energy Industry Promotion Center Deputy CEO Luke Cheng  (鄭亦麟), per Storm Media. Hsiao is running for Fenglin Township mayor as a KMT candidate in the November election, per PTS.
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Medwin Hsu
Taiwan News, Staff Writer

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