Environmental Disaster Under Green Energy Policy: Illegal Dumping of Mass Waste Solar Panels on Chiayi TSC Farmlands Exposes Ministry of Environment's Collusion Scandal

On August 6, 2025, opposition lawmakers held a press conference exposing the illegal dumping of massive amounts of decommissioned and damaged solar panels on Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC) farmlands in Chiayi County. These waste solar panels primarily originated from facilities damaged during Typhoon Danas in July 2025. To avoid hefty disposal costs, the green energy contractor (Yuan Yu Company) brazenly stockpiled thousands of damaged panels on rented agricultural lands. Compounding the controversy, the Ministry of Environment, led by Minister Peng Chi-ming, was accused of administrative inaction and attempt to shield the violator by arbitrarily classifying the dumping as "temporary storage" to bypass strict Waste Disposal Act regulations. Lawmakers Huang Kuo-chang and Chang Chi-kai fiercely condemned the government's collusion with green energy conglomerates, which put local farmlands and water resources at risk of heavy metal contamination. This scandal exposed the environmental hazards of the administration's aggressive green energy policies and the prioritization of developer interests over ecological conservation.